Word Count: 1,208
Total Word Count: 1,208
Daily Word Goal: 1,667
Words Remaining: 48,792
Well, that was a lot harder than I remember. It's been months since I wrote, and the main thing I took away from this experience is that the hardest part about starting a new book, or starting writing at all, is that you not only have to think of what happens, but you also have to do so while wrestling with your self doubt.
The entire time that I was writing this I kept thinking to myself how much what I was writing sucked. And it does, it really does. I just never realized how much my internal editor was keeping me from writing. While I didn't meet my word count, I'm considering this a good start for being out of the daily writing game for months at a time.
I'm not really doing this to finish the whole book in a month, though it would be nice if I did. My real goal here is breaking past that barrier I haven't been able to break past. Namely the barrier where I'm so used to doing this that continuing is a lot easier to do than it was before breaking that barrier.
I actually noticeably hit that barrier while I was starting out podcasting. I got to a point where it just didn't feel worth it. But I had co-hosts that wanted to continue, and so I did, and I ended up not only enjoying myself, it's actually gotten easier to actually get the podcast done.
Of course editing it is a completely different matter...
I'm considering this first day a success, now I just need to get my writing done earlier in the day so I can feel more accomplished. When I'm not berating myself for how crap my writing is that is...
Showing posts with label Writing Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing Update. Show all posts
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The BownBlog - Open For Business
I may not have been the most consistent updater of this blog, and there are two reasons for this. One, I've been trying to focus more on my review blog, so a lot of my writing blog updates fall by the wayside. Two, I haven't been writing fiction nearly as much as I should have. Thus, without anything substantial to say on this blog, I let it drift into obscurity. But, as a ploy to try and get myself writing again, I've decided to actually participate, and complete, NaNoWriMo. And as part of that attempt, I'm ressurecting this writing blog.
I'll be providing daily updates on my progress, as well as making the attempt to write some other writing related posts. But mostly, for now, I'll be updating this blog daily, to gather my thoughts after each day of writing.
My goal right now is to complete a book, I've started several books, but haven't gotten all the way to the end with any of them. Part of my problem is lack of focus, I think of something cool, but once I start working on it, I think of something even cooler, so my previous project suddenly becomes onerous and is abandoned. I won't let it happen this time.
The book I'm working on is actually inspired by my cousin's toddler. During a family visit, the first time we'd gotten together since he'd been born, he came face to face with me for the first time. Keep in mind, I haven't cut my hair in about a year, and my beard had several months worth of growing under its belt. As a result, the kid wouldn't stop staring at me. He never got close, but every time he walked past me, he would just stare like I was the most fascinating thing in the world.
By the next family get together, everything had changed. Gone was the childlike fascination, in its place was something entirely more...annoying. The kid took one look at me, and broke out into tears. I could move to close to him the entire night, without him wailing like I was some kind of frightening, hairy beast.
This gave me an idea, for a pseudo-horror middlegrade book. Where the monster is a wizard, menacing a young boy. From that I got the idea for, and plotted almost the entire story for, There's a Wizard Under My Bed!
The premise is that young Carter wakes up one night to the smell of rotting eggs and soured milk, and finds that a wizard has accidentally opened a portal under Carter's bed, and he is not happy about it. When nobody believes a word he says, Carter decides to go through the portal under his bed, and bring back the proof himself.
The basic structure of this story came to me fairly easily. Which either means it's a shallow idea, or I'm better at this than I actually realized. Either way, I decided a few weeks later, that I would make this my NaNoWriMo for the year. I hope that actually using the website to log my progress will encourage me to actually finish. I'm planning it to be a little more than 50,000 words, so what I'll probably be doing is starting off at the recommended word count for the month, but hopefully after that I'll be able to pick up the pace.
My plans beyond that are to finally finish editing the original draft of Dragon's Egg. I have a version of that book that is still unfinished, but I'll come back to that later, as it's more YA than middlegrade, and I need to get the middlegrade version presentable. After October I'll be spending at least the first part of November editing that manuscript so it doesn't suck. I'm not entirely sure how long that will take, but I intend to spend the rest of that month tying up some loose ends on my unfinished stories. Namely, I intend to complete the YA edition of Dragon's Egg before moving on to my next book, Swords. After that I can't be sure what I'll be doing next. I'll have to play it by ear.
But for now, my tentative schedule is:
October - There's a Wizard Under My Bed!
November, First Half - Edit Middlegrade Dragon's Egg
November, Second Half - Finish YA Dragon's Egg
December - Swords
Hopefully actually planning this out will give me a chance to stick to my schedule. I'll try to keep up to date on my blogging, but for now my main focus will be getting my writing done every day. Whatever time I have after that will be spent blogging. I know that I've said similar things to what I've said in this blog post in the past. But this time my resolution is tempered by the fact that I've had consistent exposure to a normal job. While I do have a pretty good job, I've learned that I won't be able to stand a lifetime of working a regular job like this. So, for the sake of being able to live the life I want, I'm going to do my very best to finally get something published/actually get something finished.
And if that means forcing myself to go back to old stories and finish them, then so be it.
I'll be providing daily updates on my progress, as well as making the attempt to write some other writing related posts. But mostly, for now, I'll be updating this blog daily, to gather my thoughts after each day of writing.
My goal right now is to complete a book, I've started several books, but haven't gotten all the way to the end with any of them. Part of my problem is lack of focus, I think of something cool, but once I start working on it, I think of something even cooler, so my previous project suddenly becomes onerous and is abandoned. I won't let it happen this time.
The book I'm working on is actually inspired by my cousin's toddler. During a family visit, the first time we'd gotten together since he'd been born, he came face to face with me for the first time. Keep in mind, I haven't cut my hair in about a year, and my beard had several months worth of growing under its belt. As a result, the kid wouldn't stop staring at me. He never got close, but every time he walked past me, he would just stare like I was the most fascinating thing in the world.
By the next family get together, everything had changed. Gone was the childlike fascination, in its place was something entirely more...annoying. The kid took one look at me, and broke out into tears. I could move to close to him the entire night, without him wailing like I was some kind of frightening, hairy beast.
This gave me an idea, for a pseudo-horror middlegrade book. Where the monster is a wizard, menacing a young boy. From that I got the idea for, and plotted almost the entire story for, There's a Wizard Under My Bed!
The premise is that young Carter wakes up one night to the smell of rotting eggs and soured milk, and finds that a wizard has accidentally opened a portal under Carter's bed, and he is not happy about it. When nobody believes a word he says, Carter decides to go through the portal under his bed, and bring back the proof himself.
The basic structure of this story came to me fairly easily. Which either means it's a shallow idea, or I'm better at this than I actually realized. Either way, I decided a few weeks later, that I would make this my NaNoWriMo for the year. I hope that actually using the website to log my progress will encourage me to actually finish. I'm planning it to be a little more than 50,000 words, so what I'll probably be doing is starting off at the recommended word count for the month, but hopefully after that I'll be able to pick up the pace.
My plans beyond that are to finally finish editing the original draft of Dragon's Egg. I have a version of that book that is still unfinished, but I'll come back to that later, as it's more YA than middlegrade, and I need to get the middlegrade version presentable. After October I'll be spending at least the first part of November editing that manuscript so it doesn't suck. I'm not entirely sure how long that will take, but I intend to spend the rest of that month tying up some loose ends on my unfinished stories. Namely, I intend to complete the YA edition of Dragon's Egg before moving on to my next book, Swords. After that I can't be sure what I'll be doing next. I'll have to play it by ear.
But for now, my tentative schedule is:
October - There's a Wizard Under My Bed!
November, First Half - Edit Middlegrade Dragon's Egg
November, Second Half - Finish YA Dragon's Egg
December - Swords
Hopefully actually planning this out will give me a chance to stick to my schedule. I'll try to keep up to date on my blogging, but for now my main focus will be getting my writing done every day. Whatever time I have after that will be spent blogging. I know that I've said similar things to what I've said in this blog post in the past. But this time my resolution is tempered by the fact that I've had consistent exposure to a normal job. While I do have a pretty good job, I've learned that I won't be able to stand a lifetime of working a regular job like this. So, for the sake of being able to live the life I want, I'm going to do my very best to finally get something published/actually get something finished.
And if that means forcing myself to go back to old stories and finish them, then so be it.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Alloy of Law Midnight Release
I figure that I should probably start this blog up again. Since my review blog tends to get more hits, I tend to focus more on that. But I really should be building this blog more, since I need a blog where I write about anything and everything, but mostly writing.
I went to the Alloy of Law midnight release last night with Nathan and Jason. They sold out of books, but I never really intended to buy the book. I just wanted to be at the event and have Brandon sign my copy of Towers of Midnight, and my kindle.
Isaac Stewart was there, and he remembered me from the Way of Kings signing, or at least we think that's where he remembered me from. All we were certain about was that he remembered me from somewhere. Either way, it was a great evening, despite waiting forever. Me and Nathan harassed Brandon on Twitter, but he never responded to us, so I think he may not have appreciated it.
On the writing front, I have to confess that it's taken a back seat to getting school work done. Of course that's what I say but even I don't believe it. Fact is I've been pretty lazy, which is why I've been neglecting this blog. I intend to get back into the flow and actually finish this book I've been stuck on for far too long. I need to stop doing that, getting stuck on books.
So I intend to post here more often, even though nobody really reads this blog so much. But I'm not too worried about that. This is the blog I intend to put on my business card for conventions and stuff.
I went to the Alloy of Law midnight release last night with Nathan and Jason. They sold out of books, but I never really intended to buy the book. I just wanted to be at the event and have Brandon sign my copy of Towers of Midnight, and my kindle.
Isaac Stewart was there, and he remembered me from the Way of Kings signing, or at least we think that's where he remembered me from. All we were certain about was that he remembered me from somewhere. Either way, it was a great evening, despite waiting forever. Me and Nathan harassed Brandon on Twitter, but he never responded to us, so I think he may not have appreciated it.
On the writing front, I have to confess that it's taken a back seat to getting school work done. Of course that's what I say but even I don't believe it. Fact is I've been pretty lazy, which is why I've been neglecting this blog. I intend to get back into the flow and actually finish this book I've been stuck on for far too long. I need to stop doing that, getting stuck on books.
So I intend to post here more often, even though nobody really reads this blog so much. But I'm not too worried about that. This is the blog I intend to put on my business card for conventions and stuff.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
40K Landmark Reached!
Years down the line I'll look back on this event and wonder how I could ever be excited about reaching only 40,000 words. But for now I will enjoy having written the most I've ever done for one project.
That being said, I find it interesting that I've almost doubled the word count from the first draft. And I'm not even really halfway done. This is probably telling me that I have a lot of fat that needs to be trimmed, but I'll save that for after I'm done. I would cry if I decided to cut down on my word count now.
Where I am right now I'm not too satisfied with the scenes I've been writing. Unless I can fix them up in later drafts I'll probably cut them out. I hope I don't have to, though since the main purpose is for world building, I think I can safely say they will be cut. Not very encouraging writing something knowing it will be cut.
I've started preparing to plan my next book, currently titled Epic Heroes: A Test of Heroes (name likely to change). I haven't started planning yet since I still need to finish up the plan for later on in Dragon's Egg but that should start soon, so that by the time I finish my current book I'll have a new one to work on.
Since this is mostly my personal blog right now, I don't really ever expect people to read it. I should work on posting more entertaining entries, maybe that will bring people in. Those that do read this, keep in mind I have more than one blog, you might enjoy checking a few of them out.
That being said, I find it interesting that I've almost doubled the word count from the first draft. And I'm not even really halfway done. This is probably telling me that I have a lot of fat that needs to be trimmed, but I'll save that for after I'm done. I would cry if I decided to cut down on my word count now.
Where I am right now I'm not too satisfied with the scenes I've been writing. Unless I can fix them up in later drafts I'll probably cut them out. I hope I don't have to, though since the main purpose is for world building, I think I can safely say they will be cut. Not very encouraging writing something knowing it will be cut.
I've started preparing to plan my next book, currently titled Epic Heroes: A Test of Heroes (name likely to change). I haven't started planning yet since I still need to finish up the plan for later on in Dragon's Egg but that should start soon, so that by the time I finish my current book I'll have a new one to work on.
Since this is mostly my personal blog right now, I don't really ever expect people to read it. I should work on posting more entertaining entries, maybe that will bring people in. Those that do read this, keep in mind I have more than one blog, you might enjoy checking a few of them out.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
New Computer - Almost reached 40K
My laptop broke recently. I just got it replaced yesterday with a new MacBook Pro. They're about a thousand dollars at my campus store, so overall not a terrible deal. Especially when you count in the free printer and photoshop elements 9.
It's taking me a while to get used to Lion, so much has changed since what I'm used to. But it's a pretty sweet machine, here's hoping it lasts a few years.
I got a bit of writing done yesterday, but my productivity suffered from angry birds. Which is stupid because I'm about five hundred words away from breaking the 40K written for one book landmark. Just ten thousand more and I'll have reached the minimum word count for a middlegrade novel. Too bad it isn't halfway done, and it isn't really a middlegrade. But it's nice to know that I could start wrapping up and it would be long enough. It'd just suck.
I've written double what the first draft of this book was, but since it isn't done yet it doesn't feel like an accomplishment. Now that I look back at it, considering the first draft a finished book really didn't count. So I have yet to finish an actual book. This makes me feel like I haven't gotten anything done in the past few years. I've worked on several stories and books, but never finished anything. It will be nice to have finally finished an actual book.
The main thing I've learned from this experience is that the most important part of being able to finish a book is increasing the amount one writes per hour. If you can get more done in a day then your book will get done much faster. Just ask Nathan.
Anyway, today I'm going to break that barrier, after getting some homework done. I might go fishing, I'm not sure, I probably won't have time.
It's taking me a while to get used to Lion, so much has changed since what I'm used to. But it's a pretty sweet machine, here's hoping it lasts a few years.
I got a bit of writing done yesterday, but my productivity suffered from angry birds. Which is stupid because I'm about five hundred words away from breaking the 40K written for one book landmark. Just ten thousand more and I'll have reached the minimum word count for a middlegrade novel. Too bad it isn't halfway done, and it isn't really a middlegrade. But it's nice to know that I could start wrapping up and it would be long enough. It'd just suck.
I've written double what the first draft of this book was, but since it isn't done yet it doesn't feel like an accomplishment. Now that I look back at it, considering the first draft a finished book really didn't count. So I have yet to finish an actual book. This makes me feel like I haven't gotten anything done in the past few years. I've worked on several stories and books, but never finished anything. It will be nice to have finally finished an actual book.
The main thing I've learned from this experience is that the most important part of being able to finish a book is increasing the amount one writes per hour. If you can get more done in a day then your book will get done much faster. Just ask Nathan.
Anyway, today I'm going to break that barrier, after getting some homework done. I might go fishing, I'm not sure, I probably won't have time.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Threshold
There is a point during the writing process where everything start flowing smoothly. New ideas flow into your head, and the words to express them spill right onto the page. I refer to that point as the Threshold. It's the point at where writing switches from being a drag to being a true delight. Since everyone works differently the threshold is never in the same place, even for the same person. The more practice one gets, the sooner they can reach the threshold.
For example, the past few months my threshold has been far too high. It would take me several hundred, sometimes a thousand, words to reach it. Sometimes I never reached it at all. Recently, however, I've been able to reach the threshold in just a hundred words or so. I partially atribute this to this being my third day in a row of writing every day. I know this isn't a big accomplishment, but for me it's something. I've also been writing more frequently overall, so I can only assume that the practice is having an affect.
Practice alone does not decrease the threshold, however. What really breaks it down is pure enthusiasm. If you can reach the point where writing a book is as good as reading one, because you're discovering a new story, then you know you're where you want to be. It goes without say that you need to be enthusiastic about books to be able to reach this point in the first place.
For a good chunk of this book it's been a drag just because I was trying to get it done just so I could say I finished a book. But recently I've been able to think of a few new ideas, expanded on some characters, fleshed out the plot, and prepared some plot twists, that have me thinking this really is going to be a good book. I'm looking forward to finishing it because I know it's going to be good and people will enjoy it. Without that driving force I don't think I could finish this book.
I think every book needs a few ideas like that, something that makes you excited to write it. That's why it's important to always have your ending in mind. Start with a rough idea for the ending at least, and then start building the plot towards it. The ending will change as you think of new ideas, brought on by expanding the plot and characters. It's hard to write a plot twist for a character that doesn't even really exist yet.
And I guess you probably want to create your characters before plotting. My characters kinda pop into existence as I expand on the plot. They usually start out as something to fill in plot holes, and then grow to take on their own lives.
Anyway, I'll try to update this blog more often, but right now my book and other blog take priority.
For example, the past few months my threshold has been far too high. It would take me several hundred, sometimes a thousand, words to reach it. Sometimes I never reached it at all. Recently, however, I've been able to reach the threshold in just a hundred words or so. I partially atribute this to this being my third day in a row of writing every day. I know this isn't a big accomplishment, but for me it's something. I've also been writing more frequently overall, so I can only assume that the practice is having an affect.
Practice alone does not decrease the threshold, however. What really breaks it down is pure enthusiasm. If you can reach the point where writing a book is as good as reading one, because you're discovering a new story, then you know you're where you want to be. It goes without say that you need to be enthusiastic about books to be able to reach this point in the first place.
For a good chunk of this book it's been a drag just because I was trying to get it done just so I could say I finished a book. But recently I've been able to think of a few new ideas, expanded on some characters, fleshed out the plot, and prepared some plot twists, that have me thinking this really is going to be a good book. I'm looking forward to finishing it because I know it's going to be good and people will enjoy it. Without that driving force I don't think I could finish this book.
I think every book needs a few ideas like that, something that makes you excited to write it. That's why it's important to always have your ending in mind. Start with a rough idea for the ending at least, and then start building the plot towards it. The ending will change as you think of new ideas, brought on by expanding the plot and characters. It's hard to write a plot twist for a character that doesn't even really exist yet.
And I guess you probably want to create your characters before plotting. My characters kinda pop into existence as I expand on the plot. They usually start out as something to fill in plot holes, and then grow to take on their own lives.
Anyway, I'll try to update this blog more often, but right now my book and other blog take priority.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Word Counting Distracts Me
Well, I've decided that from now on I'm only going to bother about writing every day, and not worrying about word count. If I worry about that too much then it becomes a chore, and that's not what I want this to be. I want to be a professional writer, but I don't get enough written per day to do that. So I'm going to try and reach that stage Nathan is at, where going too long without writing drives one insane.
I won't be posting word count updates, because I need to trick my brain into thinking that this isn't a chore. And if I can get myself into the right groove every day, then eventually I will be churning out a ton of words every day. But only if I can get myself into the right groove.
There's a lot to consider when writing, and I'm no idiot when it comes to knowing technical facts about writing. But knowing all that is unimportant if I don't do what every writer should be doing, and that is write. Despite my professional aspirations, even beginners are currently better than me, because while what they write isn't even close to gold material, at least they are writing.
But don't be too smug for long beginners, I'm not going to let you beat me! I may not be the most hardworking guy out there, but as soon as I get over my natural laziness I will be a force to be reckoned with!! Or at least considered!
I know for a fact that I'm much better now than I was three or four years ago, but that does little good when I'm letting myself get bogged down with too much thinking or laziness. And I have most of the book planned, so I have no excuses to not be working on this. I do need to sit down and make some more detailed plans, but for now I need to use the planned first act to get some kind of grove together.
Really it's all just a matter of making it my priority. The earlier in the day I start, not only do I get more done, but I also feel like the day was well spent. I'm not about to ignore other responsibilities, such as working around the yard and keeping the house clean...ish, but I definitely need to make it a priority over everything else. Then I don't feel bad when I take some time to blog.
And yes, I've gotten some done today, just not very much, so I'll be getting right back to that.
I won't be posting word count updates, because I need to trick my brain into thinking that this isn't a chore. And if I can get myself into the right groove every day, then eventually I will be churning out a ton of words every day. But only if I can get myself into the right groove.
There's a lot to consider when writing, and I'm no idiot when it comes to knowing technical facts about writing. But knowing all that is unimportant if I don't do what every writer should be doing, and that is write. Despite my professional aspirations, even beginners are currently better than me, because while what they write isn't even close to gold material, at least they are writing.
But don't be too smug for long beginners, I'm not going to let you beat me! I may not be the most hardworking guy out there, but as soon as I get over my natural laziness I will be a force to be reckoned with!! Or at least considered!
I know for a fact that I'm much better now than I was three or four years ago, but that does little good when I'm letting myself get bogged down with too much thinking or laziness. And I have most of the book planned, so I have no excuses to not be working on this. I do need to sit down and make some more detailed plans, but for now I need to use the planned first act to get some kind of grove together.
Really it's all just a matter of making it my priority. The earlier in the day I start, not only do I get more done, but I also feel like the day was well spent. I'm not about to ignore other responsibilities, such as working around the yard and keeping the house clean...ish, but I definitely need to make it a priority over everything else. Then I don't feel bad when I take some time to blog.
And yes, I've gotten some done today, just not very much, so I'll be getting right back to that.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
I am the worst writer ever
Which is why I find myself, up at midnight, having struggled with getting my files backed up so I can try and update my laptop. It's getting old, and cranky, and after having finder flicker on and off I decided it's time to update. And after spending most of the day backing up files (itunes was being a bitch), I finally find myself ready to start writing.
Overall things have been going well. I've got the first act planned, and ready to type up. Unfortunately my ADD is rearing its ugly head. But instead of boring you with a post about how I swear this time I'm going to write every day!, instead I'm just going to say, this book will be finished, if it kills me. I'm giving myself a week, two tops, then it will be done. And once that's done, it's time to plan my next book.
Since my writing is pretty dependent on my mood, I think it should be interesting to see how much I get done on any given day.
Overall things have been going well. I've got the first act planned, and ready to type up. Unfortunately my ADD is rearing its ugly head. But instead of boring you with a post about how I swear this time I'm going to write every day!, instead I'm just going to say, this book will be finished, if it kills me. I'm giving myself a week, two tops, then it will be done. And once that's done, it's time to plan my next book.
Since my writing is pretty dependent on my mood, I think it should be interesting to see how much I get done on any given day.
Monday, May 30, 2011
First six chapters are a go
Well, I've got the first six chapters of Dragon's Egg fully planned. Since that basically constitutes the first act I think I'm good to start actually writing this. This will partially be a plan to see whether this actually helps me get the actual chapters written faster. If it does, or at least helps make my writing sessions longer, then I know I'm on the right track. If it doesn't do anything for me, then I need to reconsider how I plan.
Eventually I plan to completely plan books before writing them, but for now I think I'm going to go partway with this, and have daily planning sessions, and then get actual writing done. This book needs to be done five months ago, and this way I actually have something to show while I plan the rest of the book. I probably won't get that much writing done tomorrow, what with it being Memorial Day and all that, but I wouldn't be surprised if I manage to get the first six chapters written within the next two days.
It's definitely all coming together, and since I have a rough idea of what's going to happen in the future I can add necessary foreshadowing to my detailed plan. I don't know if the actual writing process is going to be improved, but I feel much better about what I'm managing to get done. I especially need to get this project done so that I can spend more time focusing on plotting a webcomic I'm writing the script for. It's a project I'm pretty excited about, and think I'll have a lot of fun with. It would also help increase my portfolio, since I have not yet produced anything I would feel comfortable showing anyone. I've been working on stories, but they never seem to come together properly. So if I can get this planning method to pay off then I'll definitely be able to start producing more.
I should know by tomorrow if I am in fact on the right track. Either way, I need to be spending basically all day writing something or another. If I can make the majority of my day productive like that then I'll be in business.
Eventually I plan to completely plan books before writing them, but for now I think I'm going to go partway with this, and have daily planning sessions, and then get actual writing done. This book needs to be done five months ago, and this way I actually have something to show while I plan the rest of the book. I probably won't get that much writing done tomorrow, what with it being Memorial Day and all that, but I wouldn't be surprised if I manage to get the first six chapters written within the next two days.
It's definitely all coming together, and since I have a rough idea of what's going to happen in the future I can add necessary foreshadowing to my detailed plan. I don't know if the actual writing process is going to be improved, but I feel much better about what I'm managing to get done. I especially need to get this project done so that I can spend more time focusing on plotting a webcomic I'm writing the script for. It's a project I'm pretty excited about, and think I'll have a lot of fun with. It would also help increase my portfolio, since I have not yet produced anything I would feel comfortable showing anyone. I've been working on stories, but they never seem to come together properly. So if I can get this planning method to pay off then I'll definitely be able to start producing more.
I should know by tomorrow if I am in fact on the right track. Either way, I need to be spending basically all day writing something or another. If I can make the majority of my day productive like that then I'll be in business.
Friday, May 20, 2011
The hardest part is getting started
"Well duh," say my readers. But it's true, even something as simple as starting some more planning is very difficult to do. I know that I myself, and I'm sure a lot of people do this, underestimate exactly how much work even the simple parts of writing are. For every writing session where everything flows nicely, there's always that period of time where you have to struggle to even get ideas. I know that it gets easier with time and practice, but for someone as afraid of effort as myself this is a crucial period. I have the desire to be a writer, but do I have the conviction?
Mostly, but not entirely. I think conviction is something that can be developed, but like everything else in life it takes a lot of effort. Even when I think back on things that were once hard, but are now easy, I have a hard time making the connection between those things that are now easy and the things that are hard now. I know that I've gotten better at things that were once hard, but for some reason I have a hard time convincing myself that something that is difficult now will be easy in the future.
Even when it's something that has happened recently. I think back to when I first started blogging, when I hardly had any posts, and I look at my blog now. I still don't have that many posts, but I've gotten enough that I realize all I need to do is take it one day at a time, one review at a time, and eventually I'll have a large blog. I look at the reviews I wrote about a year ago, and compare them to the ones I write now. Sure with a lot of them I was cracking more jokes, but looking at the ones that I write now I can't help but notice how my style has been refined as I wrote more and more. Anything can be learned over time, as long as we put the effort into it now.
The problem is that some things are easier to learn because the rewards come much faster. For example, it isn't hard to see the rewards for blogging, as long as you consider the rewards to be having a blog with posts in it. Every time you write a post, that's one more post to your blog, and you can see your archive growing. With something like writing a book the end result is a long way off. Having a finished manuscript, which is a great feeling, or holding your published work, which I can only imagine must feel incredible (am I the only one that has held a book and pretended it was something I wrote? Anyone?). The final product is incredibly rewarding, but what is one to do when the effort needed is overwhelming?
Well, if you're me then you start writing a new blog post to get in the mood to write. Or if you're stuck on your story. Or to wind down after having a particularly productive session. Either way, writing, any kind of writing, is a great way to get in gear. The trick is, moving from writing something like a blog post, to actually working on your book.
So, to try my hand at blogging to get into the writing mood, I'm going to start by writing a blog post for this blog before getting to work on my book. Probably nothing more than saying, "I had a good rest last night, the day is beginning beautifully, now that I've had breakfast I'm going to start writing." Maybe I'll ramble about what I plan to do during the day, writing related or not. Whichever it is, it will be something to get my brain working. I don't expect anyone to read those, not like there are that many people that read these posts right now anyway. I have a decent readership for my media review blog, but that hasn't translated to here. Not that it really matters, I don't expect to see too many people meandering over here until I've made my debut. The most important part is that this blog makes me feel just a little more like a writer, and when it comes to me mental state is the biggest part. If I can convince myself that I'm actually a writer, then I'm more likely to act like one.
But like I said, I'll definitely try to have something to say every morning. Maybe I'll even do something out of character, like discussing recent news, but don't hold your breath.
Also, while planning is incredibly productive, I think I'm going to try and spend at least a little bit of time making a start on the actual book. I'll keep ahead in my planning, and I'll keep an even pace with what I'm actually writing. This is to make sure I get the book done a bit faster. I am however a little worried that dividing my attention like this will be bad news for my actual planning. I might have to start scheduling what I do when. Give an hour or two for planning, and another hour for writing the actual book.
As long as I start out early in the morning. If I can get a bunch written in the morning then the rest of the day feels that much more productive. And while I may not have been getting as much done as I should, I've been successful in getting at least something done every day. Even when it is only a token effort, which I really need to eradicate. If I'm going to consider it actually getting work done, then I should actually get a lot done.
That being said, I'm far too easily distracted, and can only admit to a token amount of work getting done today. But I'm getting into the mood, even if I'm dead tired right now. So all I need to do is go to bed now, and get up in the morning when I can start the day out right and get a bunch of writing done. Here's hoping at least. I need to break out of my lazy habits.
Oh yeah, I get paid tomorrow, so then I should know exactly how badly I need another job. Here's hoping I actually get a decent pay check. I would say that way I can justify spending all day writing, but right now I don't think that needs much justifying. If I spent all day writing that would be a vast improvement from spending all day doing diddly squat. Oh internet, I love you so, but at the same time I sometimes wish you'd die, you dirty, rotten time waster.
...That was uncalled for, I'm really sorry.
Mostly, but not entirely. I think conviction is something that can be developed, but like everything else in life it takes a lot of effort. Even when I think back on things that were once hard, but are now easy, I have a hard time making the connection between those things that are now easy and the things that are hard now. I know that I've gotten better at things that were once hard, but for some reason I have a hard time convincing myself that something that is difficult now will be easy in the future.
Even when it's something that has happened recently. I think back to when I first started blogging, when I hardly had any posts, and I look at my blog now. I still don't have that many posts, but I've gotten enough that I realize all I need to do is take it one day at a time, one review at a time, and eventually I'll have a large blog. I look at the reviews I wrote about a year ago, and compare them to the ones I write now. Sure with a lot of them I was cracking more jokes, but looking at the ones that I write now I can't help but notice how my style has been refined as I wrote more and more. Anything can be learned over time, as long as we put the effort into it now.
The problem is that some things are easier to learn because the rewards come much faster. For example, it isn't hard to see the rewards for blogging, as long as you consider the rewards to be having a blog with posts in it. Every time you write a post, that's one more post to your blog, and you can see your archive growing. With something like writing a book the end result is a long way off. Having a finished manuscript, which is a great feeling, or holding your published work, which I can only imagine must feel incredible (am I the only one that has held a book and pretended it was something I wrote? Anyone?). The final product is incredibly rewarding, but what is one to do when the effort needed is overwhelming?
Well, if you're me then you start writing a new blog post to get in the mood to write. Or if you're stuck on your story. Or to wind down after having a particularly productive session. Either way, writing, any kind of writing, is a great way to get in gear. The trick is, moving from writing something like a blog post, to actually working on your book.
So, to try my hand at blogging to get into the writing mood, I'm going to start by writing a blog post for this blog before getting to work on my book. Probably nothing more than saying, "I had a good rest last night, the day is beginning beautifully, now that I've had breakfast I'm going to start writing." Maybe I'll ramble about what I plan to do during the day, writing related or not. Whichever it is, it will be something to get my brain working. I don't expect anyone to read those, not like there are that many people that read these posts right now anyway. I have a decent readership for my media review blog, but that hasn't translated to here. Not that it really matters, I don't expect to see too many people meandering over here until I've made my debut. The most important part is that this blog makes me feel just a little more like a writer, and when it comes to me mental state is the biggest part. If I can convince myself that I'm actually a writer, then I'm more likely to act like one.
But like I said, I'll definitely try to have something to say every morning. Maybe I'll even do something out of character, like discussing recent news, but don't hold your breath.
Also, while planning is incredibly productive, I think I'm going to try and spend at least a little bit of time making a start on the actual book. I'll keep ahead in my planning, and I'll keep an even pace with what I'm actually writing. This is to make sure I get the book done a bit faster. I am however a little worried that dividing my attention like this will be bad news for my actual planning. I might have to start scheduling what I do when. Give an hour or two for planning, and another hour for writing the actual book.
As long as I start out early in the morning. If I can get a bunch written in the morning then the rest of the day feels that much more productive. And while I may not have been getting as much done as I should, I've been successful in getting at least something done every day. Even when it is only a token effort, which I really need to eradicate. If I'm going to consider it actually getting work done, then I should actually get a lot done.
That being said, I'm far too easily distracted, and can only admit to a token amount of work getting done today. But I'm getting into the mood, even if I'm dead tired right now. So all I need to do is go to bed now, and get up in the morning when I can start the day out right and get a bunch of writing done. Here's hoping at least. I need to break out of my lazy habits.
Oh yeah, I get paid tomorrow, so then I should know exactly how badly I need another job. Here's hoping I actually get a decent pay check. I would say that way I can justify spending all day writing, but right now I don't think that needs much justifying. If I spent all day writing that would be a vast improvement from spending all day doing diddly squat. Oh internet, I love you so, but at the same time I sometimes wish you'd die, you dirty, rotten time waster.
...That was uncalled for, I'm really sorry.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Planning - It is better than discovery writing. There, I said it.
I am absolutely loving this new method of planning. Already I've restructured my story to the point where it's actually good. Maybe my brain works a little differently from other writers, but not having to focus on whether my writing is good, or even just putting down serviceable prose, has really made it much easier to get the creative juices flowing. I guess this is an extreme version of what Brandon said about turning off your internal editor and just writing. I've turned off both my internal editor, and my internal prose writer. And it's working miracles.
I know I'll have to actually write the prose eventually, and maybe I'm adding more stages to this than there need to be, but it's working and that's all that matters to me. Like I said, I can write an amazing amount of words in a day if I don't have to think too hard about what I'm writing. So I definitely suspect I'm going to be one of those writers that spends months planning a book, and then writes it in a few short weeks.
It's definitely a lot easier to fix story errors before actually writing the prose. While in the planning stage I can look at what works and what doesn't work, and since I have no prose to be attached to, I can easily make the necessary changes in a minimal number of words, and then move on to fixing the next problem.
Writing like this is, however, much more slow paced, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand it's aggravating the side of me that wants to get to the end of the project as quickly as possible. On the other hand that side of is a whiny little canine of the female persuasion and needs as many beatings as I have the strength to deliver. Trying to rush through this book in the first place is what made the end fall to pieces. It wasn't pretty.
The funny thing is, that inspiration keeps hitting, even when I'm working off the shorter plan I made. So even though I had one course of events in mind, I end up retooling it completely for the detailed plan. I'll say it again, this is working great for me.
But since it's late I'm going to get some rest now, and continue work on this tomorrow. It went so well this evening that I think I can spend a lot more time getting writing done tomorrow. Not like I don't have time for it. I also have some blogging that needs doing, so after I spend the morning writing I think I'll get that done, adn then see if i can get any of my other planned reviews out of the way. Feels nice to feel productive, now if only I could find a job, then I'd feel really productive.
PS: Creative juices taste like apple juice.
I know I'll have to actually write the prose eventually, and maybe I'm adding more stages to this than there need to be, but it's working and that's all that matters to me. Like I said, I can write an amazing amount of words in a day if I don't have to think too hard about what I'm writing. So I definitely suspect I'm going to be one of those writers that spends months planning a book, and then writes it in a few short weeks.
It's definitely a lot easier to fix story errors before actually writing the prose. While in the planning stage I can look at what works and what doesn't work, and since I have no prose to be attached to, I can easily make the necessary changes in a minimal number of words, and then move on to fixing the next problem.
Writing like this is, however, much more slow paced, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand it's aggravating the side of me that wants to get to the end of the project as quickly as possible. On the other hand that side of is a whiny little canine of the female persuasion and needs as many beatings as I have the strength to deliver. Trying to rush through this book in the first place is what made the end fall to pieces. It wasn't pretty.
The funny thing is, that inspiration keeps hitting, even when I'm working off the shorter plan I made. So even though I had one course of events in mind, I end up retooling it completely for the detailed plan. I'll say it again, this is working great for me.
But since it's late I'm going to get some rest now, and continue work on this tomorrow. It went so well this evening that I think I can spend a lot more time getting writing done tomorrow. Not like I don't have time for it. I also have some blogging that needs doing, so after I spend the morning writing I think I'll get that done, adn then see if i can get any of my other planned reviews out of the way. Feels nice to feel productive, now if only I could find a job, then I'd feel really productive.
PS: Creative juices taste like apple juice.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Planning stage one completed
Well, I've finished the first stage of planning for my rewrite, I added a few more chapters onto the book, and with hopefully longer chapters overall the entire thing will be closer to the required 50,000 words, at least. Now I move on to stage two of my newly developed planning method. In which I take my brief chapter summaries, and expand them to include all the information needed for writing each specific chapter in its own section. Basically the idea is that I can get a lot more writing done in one go if I know exactly what is going to happen when I sit down to write it. I will admit, I wrote well over ten thousand words for a fanfiction that way, which was basically a rewrite fo the series, with most everything staying the same. So I didn't have to think about what happened, because it was already done, I just had to sit down and type it up. My theory is that if I do that with my own writing, only I provide the premade story, I will be able to finish up a decent length book within a week or two at most. Kind of like how some writers spend months planning and then write the book in a week. That's the kind of writer I think I am.
There's still a lot to go over, to make sure that everything fits together, and I still need to find some time to learn how to create a bible for an entire series. But since this book is currently meant to stand on its own, though it has series potential, I don't necessarily need a bible. But when planning an entire series, it's crucial that I have the entire series planned out before plotting individual books. From what I've been able to gather during my research the best way to do this is to take individual characters, and plot out storylines for them. Those storylines are then then woven together into the main plot line. Basically this is the way to make sure every characters is a worthy read throughout a long series. I have not yet started work on a long series, but I think that I will eventually, I've been itching to try my hand at epic fantasy again. I'll have at least one epic fantasy novel in my lifetime, the one I've been wanting to write since high school.
But before that I of course need to finish this book, it's pointless trying to plan an epic long series if I haven't finished this book yet. After I get this done I'm going to try my hand at a shorter YA series. It will definitely be one that requires the use of a bible, at the very least so I can keep track of character storylines and such. But my main goal is to have each book stand more or less on its own, and connect the entire series through character story arcs. Which really is the best way to write a good series. To do that I'll need to keep a detailed bible, which will definitely include if not an overall plot summary, then at least overall character arc summaries, which can then evolve into bigger books.
But it's getting late, and even if I have nowhere to go, and not much to do besides keep looking for a job, I should get to bed soon. That way I can get up early and actually get some stuff done. Namely, writing stuff.
There's still a lot to go over, to make sure that everything fits together, and I still need to find some time to learn how to create a bible for an entire series. But since this book is currently meant to stand on its own, though it has series potential, I don't necessarily need a bible. But when planning an entire series, it's crucial that I have the entire series planned out before plotting individual books. From what I've been able to gather during my research the best way to do this is to take individual characters, and plot out storylines for them. Those storylines are then then woven together into the main plot line. Basically this is the way to make sure every characters is a worthy read throughout a long series. I have not yet started work on a long series, but I think that I will eventually, I've been itching to try my hand at epic fantasy again. I'll have at least one epic fantasy novel in my lifetime, the one I've been wanting to write since high school.
But before that I of course need to finish this book, it's pointless trying to plan an epic long series if I haven't finished this book yet. After I get this done I'm going to try my hand at a shorter YA series. It will definitely be one that requires the use of a bible, at the very least so I can keep track of character storylines and such. But my main goal is to have each book stand more or less on its own, and connect the entire series through character story arcs. Which really is the best way to write a good series. To do that I'll need to keep a detailed bible, which will definitely include if not an overall plot summary, then at least overall character arc summaries, which can then evolve into bigger books.
But it's getting late, and even if I have nowhere to go, and not much to do besides keep looking for a job, I should get to bed soon. That way I can get up early and actually get some stuff done. Namely, writing stuff.
Monday, March 14, 2011
And Now For Phase Two - My Current Life, Career, and Academic Plans
I've started work editing and rewriting The Dragon's Egg. While it is in fact done the finished product really is more aptly described as a twenty thousand word outline. This peeves me a bit but so far my writing group is responding well to it and giving good advice on how to improve the book. So now we start the delightful editing process.
My first goal is to print off the manuscript, it's only a little over thirty pages long, and to go over it and decided where I can lengthen this book to the point of adding at least another thirty thousand words. My biggest weakness so far is easily the fact that my pacing is pretty terrible, which is accounted for by the fact that I rushed through this book in order to just finally have it done. But now that I've put it aside for a few weeks I feel ready to look over it again and focus on only the most important parts, namely fixing the pacing issues. Hopefully this will turn out a much better book.
A lot of writers talk about how they had to give something up in order to actually write. TV is usually the most common thing that writers give up, but I haven't really watched TV in a long time. But a talk with some of my friends made me realize that while I don't waste my time on TV as much as I once did, I have another time eater that has been threatening not only my writing, but my school work and blogging as well.
So until further notice - by which I mean I intend to keep this up indefinitely - I will eschew my main past time, namely goofing off on various internet sites. The way it works is that I don't get online during the week, and save everything I would have read for the weekend. Alongside that, if I can get all my work done during the day I can have an hour or less in the evening during which to apply myself to other entertainment. This will most likely take the form of blogging (considering how far behind I am) and working on The Dragon's Egg. Keep in mind that "blogging" will generally include time spent watching the shows I review on a theoretical weekly basis. Besides starting on editing this will be the focus of my daily evening hour of internet usage.
But since I don't want to choose between blogging and writing, I will also be dedicating at least an hour each evening, after I finish school work, to working on my current book. For now that will be writing extra scenes to flesh out The Dragon's Egg, but as soon as I get that done I'll restart work on The Incredible Life of Billy Brown, aka/ the book with the best title I've ever thought of.
As soon as I get everything sorted out I'll probably post a writing schedule of all the ideas I want to work on. Currently I have plenty of ideas for books, and other various projects, that I should have no problem finding something creative to do. I'll probably never be in the situation where I have nothing to write, because I have so many ideas, including the currently abandoned ideas, that I doubt I'll be able to work my way through all of them in just a year. And the chances of not thinking of a new idea during said year are slim as well. So by the time I finally write everything I've currently thought of I'll all ready have a myriad of brand new ideas ready to go. And so on, and so forth, until they find me dead at my key board with an unfinished first draft.
And then the fans will forever wonder what masterpiece I have left unfinished.
Hopefully this change in life style is exactly what I need, and I can finally beat the chronic laziness that is keeping me from getting as good as I should be. I know for a fact that I've gotten better over the past two or three years, but it's nowhere near as good as I would be if I had gotten myself to consistently write every day during that time. Well, here's for making up for lost time, and hopefully for balancing out my University career as well.
With that said, I have to confess that I find it hard not to slip up a little and check on the websites I once frequented. But I will remain strong and stay away from distractions cold turkey for the entire week. Eventually I might even be able to keep it up for an entire month, followed by a binge at the end where I read all the things that I've missed. Maybe I'll even just stop going online for leisure entirely, and instead read my manga when I buy the volumes. I know the publishers would prefer that, but first I would need to wean myself away from the desire to keep up to date on the stories. No idea how likely that is, but it's a possibility. My current ultimate goal is to avoid going online for leisure reading entirely during a whole semester and to see if that improves my academic standing. Granted just avoiding it for a week, or a month might be sufficient, but gaining that kind of self control would do me a world of good.
And with that I sign off, because I have a mid-term to take, but taking the time to write this has definitely helped calm me down, and provided a necessary little break from studying. I just have a few more papers to go over and then I'll go take the exam. After that the true test begins, and we see if I can stick to getting all my work done before any leisure.
My first goal is to print off the manuscript, it's only a little over thirty pages long, and to go over it and decided where I can lengthen this book to the point of adding at least another thirty thousand words. My biggest weakness so far is easily the fact that my pacing is pretty terrible, which is accounted for by the fact that I rushed through this book in order to just finally have it done. But now that I've put it aside for a few weeks I feel ready to look over it again and focus on only the most important parts, namely fixing the pacing issues. Hopefully this will turn out a much better book.
A lot of writers talk about how they had to give something up in order to actually write. TV is usually the most common thing that writers give up, but I haven't really watched TV in a long time. But a talk with some of my friends made me realize that while I don't waste my time on TV as much as I once did, I have another time eater that has been threatening not only my writing, but my school work and blogging as well.
So until further notice - by which I mean I intend to keep this up indefinitely - I will eschew my main past time, namely goofing off on various internet sites. The way it works is that I don't get online during the week, and save everything I would have read for the weekend. Alongside that, if I can get all my work done during the day I can have an hour or less in the evening during which to apply myself to other entertainment. This will most likely take the form of blogging (considering how far behind I am) and working on The Dragon's Egg. Keep in mind that "blogging" will generally include time spent watching the shows I review on a theoretical weekly basis. Besides starting on editing this will be the focus of my daily evening hour of internet usage.
But since I don't want to choose between blogging and writing, I will also be dedicating at least an hour each evening, after I finish school work, to working on my current book. For now that will be writing extra scenes to flesh out The Dragon's Egg, but as soon as I get that done I'll restart work on The Incredible Life of Billy Brown, aka/ the book with the best title I've ever thought of.
As soon as I get everything sorted out I'll probably post a writing schedule of all the ideas I want to work on. Currently I have plenty of ideas for books, and other various projects, that I should have no problem finding something creative to do. I'll probably never be in the situation where I have nothing to write, because I have so many ideas, including the currently abandoned ideas, that I doubt I'll be able to work my way through all of them in just a year. And the chances of not thinking of a new idea during said year are slim as well. So by the time I finally write everything I've currently thought of I'll all ready have a myriad of brand new ideas ready to go. And so on, and so forth, until they find me dead at my key board with an unfinished first draft.
And then the fans will forever wonder what masterpiece I have left unfinished.
Hopefully this change in life style is exactly what I need, and I can finally beat the chronic laziness that is keeping me from getting as good as I should be. I know for a fact that I've gotten better over the past two or three years, but it's nowhere near as good as I would be if I had gotten myself to consistently write every day during that time. Well, here's for making up for lost time, and hopefully for balancing out my University career as well.
With that said, I have to confess that I find it hard not to slip up a little and check on the websites I once frequented. But I will remain strong and stay away from distractions cold turkey for the entire week. Eventually I might even be able to keep it up for an entire month, followed by a binge at the end where I read all the things that I've missed. Maybe I'll even just stop going online for leisure entirely, and instead read my manga when I buy the volumes. I know the publishers would prefer that, but first I would need to wean myself away from the desire to keep up to date on the stories. No idea how likely that is, but it's a possibility. My current ultimate goal is to avoid going online for leisure reading entirely during a whole semester and to see if that improves my academic standing. Granted just avoiding it for a week, or a month might be sufficient, but gaining that kind of self control would do me a world of good.
And with that I sign off, because I have a mid-term to take, but taking the time to write this has definitely helped calm me down, and provided a necessary little break from studying. I just have a few more papers to go over and then I'll go take the exam. After that the true test begins, and we see if I can stick to getting all my work done before any leisure.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Incredible Life of Billy Brown - 1,500 Words
This is a project I started a few months ago, before I separated my writing blog from my media blog. It was actually my NaNoWriMo project, but that didn't get very far. I've since learned that NaNo isn't exactly my cup of tea. I'm already struggling to write every day, something you've already noticed I don't really do, given my lack of daily updates. I guess it's foolish to think that suddenly applying external pressure against an internal problem isn't working too well for me. I need to learn how to write that much just because I want to, not because I'm being told to by a contest.
It helps that I've been making steps towards understanding my writing process a lot more. It helps when I have the ending planned first, even if it isn't in incredible detail, and having planning sessions before actually sitting down to write really helps. In fact, planning right before I start to write helps the most. It's really all about getting myself in the creative mood.
That being said, this current project is something that I thought of after learning a bit about the effect faster than light travel has on time. The basic idea is that the titular character is kidnapped by aliens and forced into slavery for years. He puts together a plan to escape, but has to deal with greedy slaver aliens, crash landing on uncivilized planets, and oddly out of place homages to other works of science fiction. The latter will probably be short, given that I haven't exactly immersed myself in science fiction before.
The idea is one that I haven't been playing around with in my head for years, and as such is the perfect project for me to practice my craft. I don't have ridiculous expectations for it, and it hasn't gone through several plots. My word goal for this one is around 50,000 words or so. Possibly more. I intend to hit the average for YA books. But I'm not going to just write until I hit that word goal. It's just an estimation, I already have the basic ending planned. I'll have to go flesh it out as I go along, but it helps, as I learned with Dragon's Egg, to have the ending at least in mind.
I did actually start work on this before Dragon's Egg, but put it on hold after I realized that I had to focus on getting Dragon's Egg done first. Which was good, because Dragon's Egg is much shorter than any YA novel out there, and made for a good first real finished book. Sure it isn't as impressive as finishing a full length book, but you gotta start somewhere. And after I kept abandoning books I needed this. Now I can confidently say I finished a book, I finished an entire narrative, and I can move on to my next, longer project.
After I finish with Billy Brown I intend to pick up my Epic Heroes idea again. That one will definitely be a series, though Billy Brown has series potential. Maybe one day I'll find myself back at Avalon Locke. Who knows though, chances are I might find it cliche once I'm good enough to get published. It would probably help once I get all the scattered ideas gathered together into one overall planning file. It's not that what I had planned was bad, but the book just wasn't coming together and wasn't living up to my expectations. Not to mention that I don't have the experience I need to actually plot out and write an entire series. When I divide my attention across several books, bad things happen.
Still, it is my first baby, and I want to do something with it. I think the ideas I had for it weren't too bad, I just need to make sure that everything is concrete in my mind and I can get myself to write the entire series in one go. I think that would help me the most, if I consider the entire story as one book, and then write it as such. Not to mention it helps to have the entire thing done, that way the publishers know for a fact that the series won't just fizzle out and die after they contract me.
Either way, organization is the key. I'm not the most organized person, so I need to pay close attention to it and create a planning system that works for me. I've actually learned a few things at LTUE this weekend, and have decided to keep myself from having giant planning documents that make it hard for me to read them. I need to find a way to make myself want to keep coming back to my notes. Which unfortunately means I'll have to spend more time working on them, and less time doing straight writing, but once I get my system going it will make things a lot easier than me.
Writing a book is intimidating, and just jumping into it is even more intimidating. Some people like to discovery write, but I've since learned that bad things happen when I try it. Sometimes I come up with some good scenes, but the overall story suffers. Not to mention that it is a lot less intimidating to scribble down some notes about the plot and then develop those than trying to juggle plot, character, description and dialogue all at once. I've long since abandoned my method of writing scripts for my book before writing the prose. It did work, but normally once you get in the right mood writing good prose and dialogue happens at basically the same time.
I've been rambling for long enough, but that's what this blog is for, to give updates about my current and future projects and to record my musings about writing in general. Maybe one day I'll write something important, and maybe someone will learn something from my experience. That would be my biggest dream, not only to become a professional writer, but to also help teach the next creative generation.
Well, expect future updates on Sundays from now on. I think it would be a bit much to write something here every time that I write on my book. If I'm going to be writing I might as well add some more word count to my project. I just hope I can keep track of how much I write during the week. So instead of several shorter updates with me having little more to say than how I'm doing on my project, and nothing else, expect longer posts once a week. Should be fun. Maybe one day I'll actually be someone people care about to read their stuff. Maybe people will come to my blog and look at the first entries, years in the past then. Boy, are you future fans in for a surprise when you see how bad I write in your past.
Just keep in mind that I like to keep the tone of this blog conversational and informal (which means I won't have to edit my language before posting), then we can still be friends.
It helps that I've been making steps towards understanding my writing process a lot more. It helps when I have the ending planned first, even if it isn't in incredible detail, and having planning sessions before actually sitting down to write really helps. In fact, planning right before I start to write helps the most. It's really all about getting myself in the creative mood.
That being said, this current project is something that I thought of after learning a bit about the effect faster than light travel has on time. The basic idea is that the titular character is kidnapped by aliens and forced into slavery for years. He puts together a plan to escape, but has to deal with greedy slaver aliens, crash landing on uncivilized planets, and oddly out of place homages to other works of science fiction. The latter will probably be short, given that I haven't exactly immersed myself in science fiction before.
The idea is one that I haven't been playing around with in my head for years, and as such is the perfect project for me to practice my craft. I don't have ridiculous expectations for it, and it hasn't gone through several plots. My word goal for this one is around 50,000 words or so. Possibly more. I intend to hit the average for YA books. But I'm not going to just write until I hit that word goal. It's just an estimation, I already have the basic ending planned. I'll have to go flesh it out as I go along, but it helps, as I learned with Dragon's Egg, to have the ending at least in mind.
I did actually start work on this before Dragon's Egg, but put it on hold after I realized that I had to focus on getting Dragon's Egg done first. Which was good, because Dragon's Egg is much shorter than any YA novel out there, and made for a good first real finished book. Sure it isn't as impressive as finishing a full length book, but you gotta start somewhere. And after I kept abandoning books I needed this. Now I can confidently say I finished a book, I finished an entire narrative, and I can move on to my next, longer project.
After I finish with Billy Brown I intend to pick up my Epic Heroes idea again. That one will definitely be a series, though Billy Brown has series potential. Maybe one day I'll find myself back at Avalon Locke. Who knows though, chances are I might find it cliche once I'm good enough to get published. It would probably help once I get all the scattered ideas gathered together into one overall planning file. It's not that what I had planned was bad, but the book just wasn't coming together and wasn't living up to my expectations. Not to mention that I don't have the experience I need to actually plot out and write an entire series. When I divide my attention across several books, bad things happen.
Still, it is my first baby, and I want to do something with it. I think the ideas I had for it weren't too bad, I just need to make sure that everything is concrete in my mind and I can get myself to write the entire series in one go. I think that would help me the most, if I consider the entire story as one book, and then write it as such. Not to mention it helps to have the entire thing done, that way the publishers know for a fact that the series won't just fizzle out and die after they contract me.
Either way, organization is the key. I'm not the most organized person, so I need to pay close attention to it and create a planning system that works for me. I've actually learned a few things at LTUE this weekend, and have decided to keep myself from having giant planning documents that make it hard for me to read them. I need to find a way to make myself want to keep coming back to my notes. Which unfortunately means I'll have to spend more time working on them, and less time doing straight writing, but once I get my system going it will make things a lot easier than me.
Writing a book is intimidating, and just jumping into it is even more intimidating. Some people like to discovery write, but I've since learned that bad things happen when I try it. Sometimes I come up with some good scenes, but the overall story suffers. Not to mention that it is a lot less intimidating to scribble down some notes about the plot and then develop those than trying to juggle plot, character, description and dialogue all at once. I've long since abandoned my method of writing scripts for my book before writing the prose. It did work, but normally once you get in the right mood writing good prose and dialogue happens at basically the same time.
I've been rambling for long enough, but that's what this blog is for, to give updates about my current and future projects and to record my musings about writing in general. Maybe one day I'll write something important, and maybe someone will learn something from my experience. That would be my biggest dream, not only to become a professional writer, but to also help teach the next creative generation.
Well, expect future updates on Sundays from now on. I think it would be a bit much to write something here every time that I write on my book. If I'm going to be writing I might as well add some more word count to my project. I just hope I can keep track of how much I write during the week. So instead of several shorter updates with me having little more to say than how I'm doing on my project, and nothing else, expect longer posts once a week. Should be fun. Maybe one day I'll actually be someone people care about to read their stuff. Maybe people will come to my blog and look at the first entries, years in the past then. Boy, are you future fans in for a surprise when you see how bad I write in your past.
Just keep in mind that I like to keep the tone of this blog conversational and informal (which means I won't have to edit my language before posting), then we can still be friends.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Dragon's Egg: 3,351 Words
I'm really bad at updating this when I write something. Or I'm really bad at writing. You decide. Either way, I'm going to try and make a habit of updating this blog every Sunday, with a total word count for the week. Hopefully this won't be completely depressing.
I decided to do my best to finish this book today. And Hallelujah I did it! This marks the first officially completed book I've ever written. Yes it isn't the longest book out there, but it's middlegrade and those tend to be on the shorter side anyway.
Technically I have finished one book before this, but it wasn't one I'm proud of, and the ending was just me giving up on it. So as far as the Derek Bown Canon is concerned, The Dragon's Egg stands as my first completed novel. Or novella...
Well, either way this is an exciting night. I'm sure as I go to edit this book I won't be so smug about it as I am now. But for now I'll just relish the high I'm getting off of finishing this book. Now I can buy my ticket for world fantasy, now that I have something to show editors and agents.
I decided to do my best to finish this book today. And Hallelujah I did it! This marks the first officially completed book I've ever written. Yes it isn't the longest book out there, but it's middlegrade and those tend to be on the shorter side anyway.
Technically I have finished one book before this, but it wasn't one I'm proud of, and the ending was just me giving up on it. So as far as the Derek Bown Canon is concerned, The Dragon's Egg stands as my first completed novel. Or novella...
Well, either way this is an exciting night. I'm sure as I go to edit this book I won't be so smug about it as I am now. But for now I'll just relish the high I'm getting off of finishing this book. Now I can buy my ticket for world fantasy, now that I have something to show editors and agents.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Dragon's Egg: 2,189 Words
Well, I wrote 2,189 words today. While I may not be writing as often as I'd like, at least I'm getting a decent amount written when I do write. I'm a little under 3,000 words away from my word goal for this book. Well, my second word goal. Originally it was going to be 30,000 words, but then I decided to save on printing cost I'd cut it down to 20,000 (that and it would take less time to finish it). Though I am close to the word count goal it will probably be a bit longer than I anticipated. We're close to the final showdown, an event I imagine will take a little longer than another 3,000 words.
So we're close, very close. Then I'll just have to proof read it, and make a few changes so that it's ready to take to the printer.
Well, here's hoping I finish it either tomorrow, or sometime this weekend.
So we're close, very close. Then I'll just have to proof read it, and make a few changes so that it's ready to take to the printer.
Well, here's hoping I finish it either tomorrow, or sometime this weekend.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Dragon's Egg: 531 Words
I only got 531 words done today. But I wrote again, so that's something. I'll try to write at least something every day, even if it is only 500 words. Though I'd rather write a lot every day.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Dragon's Egg: 1,484 Words
I got the rest of the book planned last week, and have since not gotten around to finishing it quite yet. But I'm slowly getting there. I'm really excited, because I have the ending all planned, so I know what I'm going to work towards, and this will be my first really finished book. At least the first that actually counts.
I wrote about 1,484 words, and we are rapidly approaching the climax. Can't wait to get there. This has been an education for me, as I've relearned the importance of having an outline for me. At the same time I've also learned that while I have the important stuff planned out, and a lot of the minor stuff, I need to adapt my planning style to flesh out everything in a plan before I write it out. Though I should probably keep myself from going overboard.
Well, it was a bit of a rough session this time, I didn't get nearly as much done as I hoped, but I got something done, and should be finishing this book soon. It'll be good to have one done, and I'll be able to carry what I learn on to the next book. Here's hoping I get to the point where I can write longer books.
I'll probably be able to pull it off, once I perfect my planning method, and am able to get the creative juices flowing well enough to do some discovery writing for the stuff in between. Mostly I need to work on my transitions from scene to scene, and I'll be much better off.
I wrote about 1,484 words, and we are rapidly approaching the climax. Can't wait to get there. This has been an education for me, as I've relearned the importance of having an outline for me. At the same time I've also learned that while I have the important stuff planned out, and a lot of the minor stuff, I need to adapt my planning style to flesh out everything in a plan before I write it out. Though I should probably keep myself from going overboard.
Well, it was a bit of a rough session this time, I didn't get nearly as much done as I hoped, but I got something done, and should be finishing this book soon. It'll be good to have one done, and I'll be able to carry what I learn on to the next book. Here's hoping I get to the point where I can write longer books.
I'll probably be able to pull it off, once I perfect my planning method, and am able to get the creative juices flowing well enough to do some discovery writing for the stuff in between. Mostly I need to work on my transitions from scene to scene, and I'll be much better off.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Welcome to the Blog and Halfway Point For "The Dragon's Egg"
I decided not too long ago that I needed a writing blog. A blog specifically for me to post updates on my writing, and talk about my different projects, along with anything relating to writing in general. This is also the blog that I'll be sharing with Agents and Editors while networking. This will also be the blog that I put on my business cards.
So, I hope you enjoy this blog, and hopefully I'll be able to think of interesting things to post here, besides just updates on my work, and possibly even excerpts. If I ever write a short story I'll consider posting it here.
Today I was able to get 3,458 words written for The Dragon's Egg a special project of mine that needs finishing as quickly as possible. It's a middlegrade book, and will be about 20,000 to 30,000 words long. So far my actual goal is 20,000, meaning I'm halfway through. It's been a lot of fun to write, since it's been coming to me much more easily than pretty much anything I've done in a while. I guess it helps that I lowered my expectations for this, not because I don't care if it sucks or not (though I have accepted that as a strong possibility) but because I went back to basics and adopted a simpler plot than a lot of what I've done before. It's not going to win any awards, but it does what it's meant to and I can't ask for more than that. Once I get some practice in I hope to be able to pull off more and more complicated plots. Which should be doable now that I have a clearer idea of plotting after Brandon's class last Thursday.
So, I'm halfway through with this, and hope to have it done by this week. While it won't be as long as any YA novel out there, it will still be my first officially completed novel. I've technically completed some before, but none were satisfactory, so it will be nice to be able to point to this one when asked if I've finished a book. And if I can keep up this paee every day, then it won't be a fantasy to pull off getting this, and more books done.
That being said, I have another book I'm writing at the moment for Brandon's class, and I need to have 50,000 words done for that by the end of the semester.
Hope you enjoy this blog, though it probably won't be getting any viewers until I'm known in the wonderful world of fiction.
So, I hope you enjoy this blog, and hopefully I'll be able to think of interesting things to post here, besides just updates on my work, and possibly even excerpts. If I ever write a short story I'll consider posting it here.
Today I was able to get 3,458 words written for The Dragon's Egg a special project of mine that needs finishing as quickly as possible. It's a middlegrade book, and will be about 20,000 to 30,000 words long. So far my actual goal is 20,000, meaning I'm halfway through. It's been a lot of fun to write, since it's been coming to me much more easily than pretty much anything I've done in a while. I guess it helps that I lowered my expectations for this, not because I don't care if it sucks or not (though I have accepted that as a strong possibility) but because I went back to basics and adopted a simpler plot than a lot of what I've done before. It's not going to win any awards, but it does what it's meant to and I can't ask for more than that. Once I get some practice in I hope to be able to pull off more and more complicated plots. Which should be doable now that I have a clearer idea of plotting after Brandon's class last Thursday.
So, I'm halfway through with this, and hope to have it done by this week. While it won't be as long as any YA novel out there, it will still be my first officially completed novel. I've technically completed some before, but none were satisfactory, so it will be nice to be able to point to this one when asked if I've finished a book. And if I can keep up this paee every day, then it won't be a fantasy to pull off getting this, and more books done.
That being said, I have another book I'm writing at the moment for Brandon's class, and I need to have 50,000 words done for that by the end of the semester.
Hope you enjoy this blog, though it probably won't be getting any viewers until I'm known in the wonderful world of fiction.
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