February 2nd, 2010
i-gave-in

…and edited. But with good reason. And I’ve been busy.

I kept trying to start the second chapter, and Shad’s crits of chapter one kept coming to mind. Foremost was the whole identity issue. Shad mentioned that the sisters didn’t have much individuality; I was aware of it, because it was an intentional plot point, but the more I thought about it the more I recognized that the beginning might not be the right place for it. It would work just as well at the end of the book, and in the beginning it made more sense to have strong characters to hook readers. They might not make it to the part where the characterization issue came up, if they just thought the writing was so bland I couldn’t even make my characters distinct. So that sat in my head for a little bit.

And then I got an idea for the ending. I knew the general ending, the general outcome, but I didn’t know the specifics of what happened. I got a neat idea, but the way it worked would leave the reader hanging and wondering, unsatisfied. I knew that as a reader that would annoy me, so I would have to do an epilogue. An epilogue from the girls’ point of view simply wouldn’t make sense, so I had to use a different character, but that was jarring because the whole rest of the book was from the girls’ POV, and it’s annoying to suddenly switch with no real precedent. And that gave me an idea for a prologue from the same character’s point of view, to kind of tie everything together. I was really happy, and I sat down to write the prologue.

I realized after that that the first chapter didn’t make a lot of sense. There was so much hostility from the villagers that they run the girls out of the village once their protection is gone, but the girls were totally clueless about said hostility. The action came as a surprise to them, and I realized that it was totally unrealistic. This, combined with the prologue, gave me a new idea.

So I started rewriting chapter one, from this new direction, and then I realized that I’d gone and done something I really didn’t want to do: I’d made the setting a carbon copy of Celtic lands. I don’t want to write fantasy where the reader says “oh, they’re Celtic” or “oh, they’re ancient Egyptians” with a fantasy world twist. So I did some research and relocated them. Instead of the lush green forests and hills of traditional “Celticy” stories, Chronicles is now set in a grassland savanna, on the edge of the desert. (Well, part of the time, anyway.) (I really need a new name besides “Chronicles”, which itself is just a shortened version of the old name. But what to call it…)

I’m also doing it a different way than I have in the past. I’m writing it all out longhand, and once the chapter is written I’m typing it up. It’s a little hard, I’ll be honest- I get stuck on a paragraph and I just want to type, because as I type I do minor revising, which generally makes me feel better about being stuck- at least I’m accomplishing something. But I really want to get the whole chapter out and then do the typing/revising all in one go- I think it’ll be more cohesive that way. I don’t have as much of the story outlined as I would like- I was trying to have the seven chapters upcoming loosely plotted out, but right now it’s just the one I’m writing and the one following it. Since I know how the final chapter goes (though I haven’t pinpointed where, yet) I have a better idea of their path. It also helps that I’ve designated an approximate length for chapters and from there extrapolated the number of chapters based on my word count goal: I’m aiming for 100,000 words, which is a bit much for publication but should be good for a rough draft in need of editing, which is broken into 25 chapters of 4,000 words. It’s only an estimate, though, a working model that may be changed as I need it. We’ll see.

I’m posting the rough draft chapter by chapter on Google Docs; if you’d like to offer your constructive criticism, let me know and I’ll get you access (I just need your email address).

Anyway, I have a lot of writing to do, so I’ll catch you later!

Autumn // Kat

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January 17th, 2010
checking-in

I still haven’t made my 5k a week goal. I’m starting to think that I’m going to be spending the season working up to the 5k a week, and also trying to teach myself to write every day. This past week has been a pretty epic failure on the creativity front, though (actually, I haven’t accomplished anything besides attending my classes, so it’s pretty epic fail on all counts.)

I have crossed the 5k line for my story overall, which is good: I’m sitting at 6,470 words at the moment. I’m into Chapter Two, and I’ve got a vague idea of where I’m headed. I had Shad from TC give me a quick critique on Chapter One, and everything she said was spot on; I’ve been resisting the urge to edit, because I really want to move forward. (On that note, if you’re interested in taking a look and offering some con crit, you can comment here and I’ll email you the Google Docs invite.)

I haven’t made it over to PW yet, either, though I have two unanswered PMs. I’m trying to avoid going over there until I get my schoolwork accomplished. I’d like to get all that done today, though we’ll see how that actually works out.

Anyway! Nothing much to report, sadly. Maybe this upcoming week will be better.

Autumn // Kat

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January 10th, 2010
writing-exercises

Star has been posting some writing exercises on her blog; I don’t really want to try them right now, but I’d like to take a crack at them eventually. But if I don’t save them somewhere, I will undoubtedly forget them and/or lose them. So! They’re being saved here.

Writing Exercise #1
Exercise paraphrased and slightly modified from Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich.

This one should take about two pages, and runs from Monday, January 4 to Sunday, January 10.

The exercise is all about description and setting — no narrative required or involved. (Or, OK, not much.) Start by recalling a favorite place in nature. Novakovich suggests a bridge, but we changed this because I don’t actually have a favorite bridge. I do have a favorite beach, and I’ll be using that; you could use whatever sort of location you’re familiar enough with to describe it in detail.

Got it? Okay. Now you’re going to write two descriptions of that place (one page each), seeking to capture two different moods. In the first one, describe the place from the perspective of someone who has just been offered a really good job. In the second, describe from the perspective of someone whose significant other has just committed suicide. Don’t tell us about the person’s emotions directly. Don’t describe the person’s plans, regrets, thoughts at all. Show us how he or she feels by the way the details of the setting are perceived. In the example of the bridge, Novakovich suggests looking at the stones of the bridge, the river traffic, the vegetation along the banks, the water.

Have fun!

Writing Exercise #2
Exercise paraphrased and slightly modified from two exercises appearing in Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich.

This one should take about three pages, and runs from Monday, January 11 to Sunday, January 17.

This exercise focuses on dialog. Your scene: Two men and a woman eating dinner. Man #1 is in love with the woman, who is in love with Man #2, who in turn is in love with himself. (I’m sure you could rearrange genders as you please.) You want to show your reader this without coming out and saying it. Illustrate it through body language, through the way they speak and act toward one another. A secondary goal in addition to the descriptive bits is to practice mixing dialogue and action or description. As you’re doing this, also be sure that you keep each character distinct. Let us know who’s talking without using dialogue tags.

Happy writing!

That’s all for now- I have writing to do!

Autumn // Kat

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Tags: | Posted in General |
January 10th, 2010
ugh

This has not been a good week for creativity.

It started out okay- I started a discussion on TCN (The Cauldron’s social network site) about getting a writing buddy to help keep me on track with my writing goal. Two people signed up and one more is planning to soon. Somehow I still only managed to write a little over 500 words this week. I’m not updating the goals page here or at TC until I write today, since my weeks run Monday-Sunday. I still have time to get something accomplished, though I’m not holding my breath to hit 5k this week, since that would mean I’d have to write 4,500 words today. I just want to get something done, even if I only cross the 1k line again.

I haven’t been on PW at all, either. And I’m supposed to be setting up a thread with another 1st year Puff boy. I’ll get on there on Tuesday; I’d go for tomorrow, but classes start tomorrow, and I’d like to get some reading done before that.

I don’t really have much else to say, right now; I’ve got some ideas brewing for the story, though one I’m still not sure how to do. But I’m still thinking. I’ll check in again soon- hopefully with some better writing news!

Autumn // Kat

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Tags: , , | Posted in Chronicles, General |
December 31st, 2009
writing-again

My notebook came in yesterday, and I’m really pleased with it. I wrote down a bunch of stuff regarding Taerrun in general, and then went over my plot for Lotus Tears, which is actually more sound than I remembered. I also sat down and took a long look at my plot for Chronicles (I’d like to note that both titles are working titles, and I hate them both) and tried to figure out if it could be salvaged or not. Turns out it can- with some brainstorming I came up with something I really liked, fleshed out a little bit of the two cultures I expect to interact with (technically three, but two are supposed to be very similar) and started writing. I wrote around 647 words last night before bed, and I’ve written about 314 in the past half hour or so. I’m struggling a little at the moment, but I’m trying to push through- if I don’t like it, I can always edit it later. I’m also resisting the urge to type up what I have in this period of struggle, because as I type I revise, and I don’t want to do that yet. I want to write the whole chapter- I want to hit at least 4,000 words- and then reread and then type it all up. I think it’ll help lend it some cohesiveness.

I don’t have too much planned out just yet- I have a few things that need to happen in the course of the story, and half the ending, but those are just vague plot things for the moment. I have five chapters with a few notes written down for them; I can’t really call them summaries, as it’s just a few words to remind me of what I was thinking. And I’m trying to remind myself that it’s okay if I don’t follow it- as Nix said, it can be a really out of date road-map to my story, and when I need some direction I can look for big landmarks to aim towards. I’d like to get some ideas for another two or three chapters before I start on chapter three, I think. Always look a bit ahead, right?

At any rate- I’m avoiding the writing right now, so I need to stop babbling here and get back to it. But I’m very excited to be writing something original again, and actually feel good about it!

Autumn // Kat

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