What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

Priority: Make writing a fun thing. Allow yourself to relax and explore. Even if you're under contract for one. I write like I'm in jail for a year stint. I have no real distractions around me and nothing other to do that's exciting. I have all the time in the world and nobody is pressuring me to do anything else. And it's also the perfect time to amuse myself. We're both doing time together, so we make the best of it.

@Davarian: I don't keep track, Microsoft Word does for me. Usually in the bottom left (depending on which version) it keeps a running tally. Of course, if you're writing longhand that doesn't help any.

My new story is coming along quite well. Written about 1100 words on it so far today. Now for the fun part. I have my MC where he needs to be, I have the plot set for the introduction of the other two major characters. Now I just need to figure out what's supposed to go wrong.

Hit the 14,000-word mark on the new WIP. I'm taking advantage of a lull in other writing matters to knock out some prose.

I'm one, I say one, subscriber away from having 100 members in my blog! I can't believe how far I've come with this fairly new venture. If anyone is interested at all, Guerrilla Warfare For Writers (special weapons and tactics) is a writer info blog with plenty of subjects and topics. It's here:

http://guerrillawarfareforwriters.b...d-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

Please push me over the edge and make me a triple-digit winner!

Thanks,

tri

Finally finished the first draft of book one of my novel series today! Woo hoo! Now to let it simmer and start on book two, and maybe get in a few character sketches while I'm at it. In a couple of weeks or so I'll start the edits. I already think I can ditch chapter one and weave it into the rest of the book (already have, pretty much) and another long scene I have an idea to rewrite that'll hopefully make it shorter and not so unrealistic (it's never sat right with me anyway).

I should see about getting a plot soon.

annaspargoryan said:

I should see about getting a plot soon.

Click to expand...

Me too, I have two plot directions to go in, and I'm 42 pages in.

I'm having a bit of a slow time in writing at the moment. Mostly because my workload for my degree has stepped up which requires a heck of a lot more reading! I'm also writing, directing and acting a lot in my student theatre group which takes up any spare hours.

I'm working on a short piece for my creative writing group novel, we're world building a fantasy universe together and takes the pressure off because it's something fun to do with other people.

For creative fiction I'm sitting on a project that has troubled me for six years. It's gone through several reincarnations but I really feel it might be time to put it to rest because it gives me a sinking feeling whenever I feel guilty about not working on it and I've run out of steam. It's more a learning curve than a final product, like an extended writing exercise.

I have three other main projects, two based on historical figures/events that needs a ton more research and the other is a whimsical look at post-graduation cynicism.

I really want to send out more agent enquiries this year, I usually send out a ton every holiday but haven't since last summer when I had a significant break from work.

I'm thinking that there are a lot of writers better than me.

But then again, there are a lot of writers worse than me, too.

I opened what I think is my most advanced WIP last night after not looking at if for a while. Wow. I hadn’t thought about it in such a long time, but I was instantly sucked back into that world. It was a pretty great feeling

Even though I hadn’t worked on it since last year, I forced myself to start writing for it just to see how far I could get. The writing gradually came back to me, and then it became effortless. It was so much fun.

Last year, I had spent so much time on this story that I burnt out and had to work on something else for a long while. Thankfully, what I had spent so much time on was working out the smaller plot details, character arcs, and such. It allowed me to write freely last night because it all came back to my mind so easily, and I no longer had to worry about where to go with the story.

I did make a few changes as I went along though, which was helped by the fact that I now have a “fresh” new view on the story as a whole. However, it seems I’m still the type of person who kills off my main characters. Sorry, characters, but I’m not changing that!

I was stuck in a neverending rut. So I'm working on something totally different to what I usaully write. A first person, present tense contemporary fantasy short story whereas I usally write High fantasy, third person. Could end in disaster but something different to try.

It was AW that pushed me into the triple digit blog membership area!

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR HOOKING UP. I promise some great Warfare articles in the very near future.

tri

I've had a couple epiphanies about bits of the craft in the last couple days. Things that really resonated with where I am in the process.
I'm frustrated though, because each new thing I learn I want to incorporate into my first novel. I'd like to reach a point where I can say "done", and I want to pick up writing the second book again.
A quote that I love is "Write the best book you can, then write a better one." I'm not living by that creed. I have faith in that first book, and want to give it every chance for success. And so I'm back to revising.

If I could only stop learning for awhile....lol j/k

/end ramble

On my mind now is Odyssey. I'm in an Odyssey revision class that starts Monday. I'm alternating between "Holy cow! I got in." And "What have I gotten myself into?" One night I dreamed that my writing process was too weird so they told me I couldn't be in the class.

What's on my mind write now (heh, see what I did there?)... hmmm, well, currently, it's the fact that I really, really should be working on my WIP, but I've got a nasty cold and my constant sniffling and sneezing is making any novel progress rather difficult.

I am pleased. While at work I finally figured out what the main antagonist of my story is. Yes, a what. I'm kind of surprised I didn't make the connection earlier. Too bad it was a really crappy shift and now I'm too drained to do anything about it.

At least I figured out Evernote isn't bad for doing a bit of writing when away from my PC. Too bad the formatting goes all wonky when I copy it into Word but eh, minor irritation is worth the price.

I will be very happy the day I stumble across a decent writing app for my phone.

I'm off to a great start this year with progress on two projects. While a slave to the word count, I find the story is coming in higher than expected and will probably be reigned in, or reassessed. The question is, can I keep the momentum all year?

Given that I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm way ahead at work, have an office to myself, and I'm self managed. Most of my writing has been done when I should have been doing something else.

I was going hells bells on my WIP and sending in chunks to my publisher when he stopped me and told me to back up! Major plot directions and problems. He gave me a nice list of what's starting to go astray, what's misplaced and what's redundant. Thank the Gods we caught it in time. Now, I'll have to strike a few huge scenes and start over near the end. I was going in the wrong direction and had things out of sequence.

Sheesh. Oh, the work of it all!

A few things, most relating to the post-holiday drift that still has my brain a little fogged.

- I need to get my tail in gear and finish revising that fantasy story. Even if it proves too hopelessly, fundamentally flawed to go to beta, I must finish it. (Too many unfinished projects lying around to add this one to the pile, dang it...)

- I want to try my hand at short stories this year. I've been going through my files picking out stubs with potential to get me started...

- I also need to stop procrastinating by lurking online at message boards and... um...

Dang it...

And done! First story of the year completed at just under 5800 words. I am actually quite looking forward to revising it, and also writing the next story about these characters.

Have to get going.
1) Finish that damn edit.
2) Figure out what turns my hero-worshipping MC against the object of his adoration.
3) Decide what to do with the unfinished 88k word book I abandoned a few months ago.

There's more.

annaspargoryan said:

I should see about getting a plot soon.

Click to expand...

triceretops said:

Me too, I have two plot directions to go in, and I'm 42 pages in.

Click to expand...

Hmm, me three. One of my WIPs down there is 30k in and oops. I forgot to have a plot of substance.

I am so psyched. Now that I have one story finished, I've been kind of pondering what to do for the next one. Then the title smacked me in the face and brought the new story with it. Yay! Too bad I can't actually start working on it until tomorrow. But I've copied the important bits into Evernote in case I have a few quiet moments at work (hah).

I really need to do something about my purple prose problem...

What I thought would be a "quick, easy" edit has been taking about an hour a chapter and resulting in edits on nearly every line; I really wonder if I'll ever be totally pleased with what I've written...

I need to not only figure out the ending to this bloody story, but also how to get there from here.