So I haven't posted anything for the past few weeks, since my life at school has gotten really... unfortunately weird. A few weeks ago my roommate and closest friend on campus decided to leave school for mental health reasons. She was my companion in this adventure and her absence has been really hard to get used to, especially since we had no warning of this decision, and only two days afterward to pack up the room and say goodbye.
To make matters even more ridiculously hard I was just diagnosed with mononucleosis the other day. Basically this means that everyone expects me to be pretty much bedridden for a while, and I'm really really tired and feel like something is rotting inside me.
But this experience made me think of something I don't think I've treated very well in writing. Loss, especially of another person or relationship, can be a debilitating thing to go through. In Elle's journey she goes through multiple kinds of loss, be it losing her old life outside of the castle and her friends, losing her reputation, and even the death of a friend.
Everyone deals with loss differently; whether it be immersing themselves in work and being productive (a habit that I very much wish was mine), or lying in bed for days in sadness, or even going out of their way to avoid anything that would remind them of their loss. It's these differences and reactions to hardship, especially hardship regarding interactions with others, that show a character's inner self. A person's true character can be seen in times of hardship.
As for myself, I will be dealing with this hardship by spending a lot more time in bed with hot beverages and good bread and working on my nanowrimo attempt this year.
Happy Halloween and First of November, everyone.
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Real Villains
Recently I submitted my prologue to my writing club to have it workshopped, and I learned a few things.
First of all, that the writing is older and more immature than I'd thought. But hopefully they didn't judge me terribly for that.
The majority of the comments, however, were focused on one character that is briefly introduced in the prologue and later becomes very important, and is in many ways an antagonist. I've been thinking now how to flesh him out more in the prologue and what else it takes to make a proper, realistic villain.
My favorite villains have always been those I could sympathize with. I think it's a mark of great writing to be able to get writers to feel torn, especially when in regards to a villain. To have my heart broken between hating and loving a villain is one of the greatest pleasures I have experienced in a story.
A trend I've noticed recently is that there are two types of villains: outrageous, evil creatures who have little or nothing in common with the protagonist, and whose motives are sometimes otherworldly; and more human characters, who started off as or seem as regular people, though corrupted.
The absurdly "other" villains can be fun to write; they can be exaggerated, outlandish, and completely crazy. However they seem to lend themselves to lazy writing. When a creature is just simply evil, there is not moral struggle or doubt when it comes to the quest to defeat them. There are many villains that seem otherworldly that work just fine, but I prefer to write the other kind.
The relatable villain is more of a challenge; you have to pay close attention to where they came from and their motives and everything they say to achieve that balance between making a reader hate them and feel sympathy. Most of my villains come from the same stock as the other characters, and become corrupted through their lives.
In my prologue someone dies-in one of those slow painful ways with the family by the bedside, and I introduced this character then to show how they would deal with that kind of emotional situation. It's subtle differences in priorities and views of justice that make my villains what they are, and open the opportunity for protagonists to question who is really in the right. To me a more realistic world is one where the line between villain and hero are a little blurred- where you can see clearly how the villain is the hero in their own story- because that's how it is in real life.
There's one villain in my story that I have done a bad job in developing, I now realize. The character that appears in the prologue doesn't come into play until after the events of the first book and its war. However the main villain of the first book remains nameless and faceless until the very end- and I am thinking that I should give them a voice earlier on and make them less sympathetic, because I've given them possible too-valiant a cause and too short a time in scenes. Villains need also to be hated.
I recently wrote more on villains and how I see other people treating them on my tumblr, at wilsathethief.tumblr.com
First of all, that the writing is older and more immature than I'd thought. But hopefully they didn't judge me terribly for that.
The majority of the comments, however, were focused on one character that is briefly introduced in the prologue and later becomes very important, and is in many ways an antagonist. I've been thinking now how to flesh him out more in the prologue and what else it takes to make a proper, realistic villain.
My favorite villains have always been those I could sympathize with. I think it's a mark of great writing to be able to get writers to feel torn, especially when in regards to a villain. To have my heart broken between hating and loving a villain is one of the greatest pleasures I have experienced in a story.
A trend I've noticed recently is that there are two types of villains: outrageous, evil creatures who have little or nothing in common with the protagonist, and whose motives are sometimes otherworldly; and more human characters, who started off as or seem as regular people, though corrupted.
The absurdly "other" villains can be fun to write; they can be exaggerated, outlandish, and completely crazy. However they seem to lend themselves to lazy writing. When a creature is just simply evil, there is not moral struggle or doubt when it comes to the quest to defeat them. There are many villains that seem otherworldly that work just fine, but I prefer to write the other kind.
The relatable villain is more of a challenge; you have to pay close attention to where they came from and their motives and everything they say to achieve that balance between making a reader hate them and feel sympathy. Most of my villains come from the same stock as the other characters, and become corrupted through their lives.
In my prologue someone dies-in one of those slow painful ways with the family by the bedside, and I introduced this character then to show how they would deal with that kind of emotional situation. It's subtle differences in priorities and views of justice that make my villains what they are, and open the opportunity for protagonists to question who is really in the right. To me a more realistic world is one where the line between villain and hero are a little blurred- where you can see clearly how the villain is the hero in their own story- because that's how it is in real life.
There's one villain in my story that I have done a bad job in developing, I now realize. The character that appears in the prologue doesn't come into play until after the events of the first book and its war. However the main villain of the first book remains nameless and faceless until the very end- and I am thinking that I should give them a voice earlier on and make them less sympathetic, because I've given them possible too-valiant a cause and too short a time in scenes. Villains need also to be hated.
I recently wrote more on villains and how I see other people treating them on my tumblr, at wilsathethief.tumblr.com
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Coincidencing
Editing is going smoothly, and in trying to reorganize scenes and make connections between characters, I've come across things that rely on coincidence.
In my story this doesn't happen as often, as my setting is in the first volume limited to three small kingdoms, and it has a lot of everyone's-related-to-everyone-else happening, especially among the upper classes. However, I've come to ask myself- what is taking coincidence too far in a story?
In life there are crazy coincidences. For instance, my brother and I visiting family months after our grandfather died and going to a 'paint your own pottery' place only to meet a woman whose own grandfather died on the same day as ours, across the street from our grandparents' house.
If this turn of events happened in a book, would you find it believable? At what point is coincidence too much?
The general consensus seems to be that coincidence becomes unbelievable when it becomes too convenient to the characters or the plot- once it becomes a deus ex machina.
A general rule also seems to be that if something makes things worse for your characters/protag, you're doing it right. However I'm sure it's possible to overdo that as well.
A good example of this would be Les Mis, where coincidences (as with most things in Les Mis, to be honest) are usually unfortunate for Jean Valjean. Victor Hugo also, as I have been informed over-enthusiastically by two friends in the room with me right now, plays a lot with coincidence purely because he can.
I feel like it also can make a world more real, to have random coincidences, because these things do happen in real life. To make a random character related through some convoluted tale and happenstance event, or have that apple fall on the old alchemist's head. It makes a world just as messy and intertwined as ours, just like having a character trip or stutter over their words makes them more relatable and susceptible to gravity.
I'm carrying on, in the meantime, and adding more connections and subplots- most of which revolve around family members and their hidden mischief.
In my story this doesn't happen as often, as my setting is in the first volume limited to three small kingdoms, and it has a lot of everyone's-related-to-everyone-else happening, especially among the upper classes. However, I've come to ask myself- what is taking coincidence too far in a story?
In life there are crazy coincidences. For instance, my brother and I visiting family months after our grandfather died and going to a 'paint your own pottery' place only to meet a woman whose own grandfather died on the same day as ours, across the street from our grandparents' house.
If this turn of events happened in a book, would you find it believable? At what point is coincidence too much?
The general consensus seems to be that coincidence becomes unbelievable when it becomes too convenient to the characters or the plot- once it becomes a deus ex machina.
A general rule also seems to be that if something makes things worse for your characters/protag, you're doing it right. However I'm sure it's possible to overdo that as well.
A good example of this would be Les Mis, where coincidences (as with most things in Les Mis, to be honest) are usually unfortunate for Jean Valjean. Victor Hugo also, as I have been informed over-enthusiastically by two friends in the room with me right now, plays a lot with coincidence purely because he can.
I feel like it also can make a world more real, to have random coincidences, because these things do happen in real life. To make a random character related through some convoluted tale and happenstance event, or have that apple fall on the old alchemist's head. It makes a world just as messy and intertwined as ours, just like having a character trip or stutter over their words makes them more relatable and susceptible to gravity.
I'm carrying on, in the meantime, and adding more connections and subplots- most of which revolve around family members and their hidden mischief.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Breaking Ice
I've just written a new scene-- not really a whole scene, just a new addition-- but it's the first really new material I've put into the manuscript in a while. It feels like breaking fresh ground.
Excitement is high though. I'm all settled back into school and life is a little less hectic now. I've been getting some organizing done, rearranging things in the outline and outlining new scenes that have to be put in. But this is the first actual change I've made to the document. It's the beginning. This is the big edit.
I'm ready to chop up this thing and make it good! TOUGH LOVE!
I'm only a little overwhelmed thinking about it.
There's a new thing, though! I'm in the writing club at my school, and we meet every other week to workshop. I'm starting to send them all my manuscript bit by bit so I can get critiques on it. The first meeting was the other night and it was the first bit of the prologue- the absolute oldest part of the manuscript (though arguably the most heavily edited so far) and it went really well. For what I think is one of the choppiest and immature bits, getting good comments really gave be some hope.
Hopefully this will give me momentum to be ruthless.
There's just so much of it.
That's all for tonight, I'll be back in a week with more.
Excitement is high though. I'm all settled back into school and life is a little less hectic now. I've been getting some organizing done, rearranging things in the outline and outlining new scenes that have to be put in. But this is the first actual change I've made to the document. It's the beginning. This is the big edit.
I'm ready to chop up this thing and make it good! TOUGH LOVE!
I'm only a little overwhelmed thinking about it.
There's a new thing, though! I'm in the writing club at my school, and we meet every other week to workshop. I'm starting to send them all my manuscript bit by bit so I can get critiques on it. The first meeting was the other night and it was the first bit of the prologue- the absolute oldest part of the manuscript (though arguably the most heavily edited so far) and it went really well. For what I think is one of the choppiest and immature bits, getting good comments really gave be some hope.
Hopefully this will give me momentum to be ruthless.
There's just so much of it.
That's all for tonight, I'll be back in a week with more.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Jigsaw-ing!
I'm just going through and figuring out solutions, where i need to add/drop a scene, which characters need more page-time. I also have a list of new conflicts and subplots I'm going to expand, and I'm going to fit those in as well. It's a lot of color-coding and marker-juggling, but it's coming along.
Right now I'm not panicking- everything is pretty easy to solve according to this. Fitting things into the current writing however will be another task.
The last few weeks I've taken some time from the story, started a new novel that I may end up saving for nanowrimo, and done some illustration and reading.
I've just finished my first week back at college and getting back into classes and learning things is really energizing. I'm up for challenges right now.
I'm still running the writing tumblr, were I'm posting more about my other writing and illustration projects. Feel free to take a look! The url is wilsathethief.tumblr.com!
Here's what my mess of a notebook is enduring right now:
Have a great Saturday everyone!
Monday, August 11, 2014
Next Step
Alright so since I last posted I've done a lot of stuff, including finishing the read-through.
I have a notebook now of all my problems and even have the two problems I was most worried about kind of solved in my head. So it's a successful step in this whole beast of a project! The 'Giant List of Doom' method totally works and I maybe should have done that first. But it was easier to read now that I've gone through it all for phrasing already. So no regrets.
I'll start the actual going-back and chopping things up next week. For now I have a million other projects to get started on/work on/finish before I go back to school in a few weeks so I should do stuff with that.
Other news! I'm making a tumblr. You should all go check it out in a few days once I start posting. For further reference though the url is wilsathethief.tumblr.com! It'll be great fun. It's going to be a writing blog, but not just for my manuscript like this one is. I'm going to supplement this blog, as well as promote it on the tumblr but I'm going to do the more tumblr-esque reblogging and general writing nerdery as well. I used to have a tumblr way back when and the writing community on there is really fun.
The tumblr will also update on my other writing projects, and probably some illustration as well. So yay! more projects! and Art things!
Speaking of illustration: I have like three more painting ideas for this story, and I really want to start working on a full-cast painting, or at least a couple of different-setting casts. I've been doing more digital painting and it's beautiful to work with.
New inspiration: Wildweasel339 on deviantart, I believe his name is Lane Brown? this is a link to ONE of his beautiful paintings: http://wildweasel339.deviantart.com/art/Rooty-Tooty-196344648
but really he does the most amazing things. especially fantasy landscapes and scenes. It amazes me beyond words.
That's all for this post! More next time! (hopefully that won't be three weeks from now!)
I have a notebook now of all my problems and even have the two problems I was most worried about kind of solved in my head. So it's a successful step in this whole beast of a project! The 'Giant List of Doom' method totally works and I maybe should have done that first. But it was easier to read now that I've gone through it all for phrasing already. So no regrets.
I'll start the actual going-back and chopping things up next week. For now I have a million other projects to get started on/work on/finish before I go back to school in a few weeks so I should do stuff with that.
Other news! I'm making a tumblr. You should all go check it out in a few days once I start posting. For further reference though the url is wilsathethief.tumblr.com! It'll be great fun. It's going to be a writing blog, but not just for my manuscript like this one is. I'm going to supplement this blog, as well as promote it on the tumblr but I'm going to do the more tumblr-esque reblogging and general writing nerdery as well. I used to have a tumblr way back when and the writing community on there is really fun.
The tumblr will also update on my other writing projects, and probably some illustration as well. So yay! more projects! and Art things!
Speaking of illustration: I have like three more painting ideas for this story, and I really want to start working on a full-cast painting, or at least a couple of different-setting casts. I've been doing more digital painting and it's beautiful to work with.
New inspiration: Wildweasel339 on deviantart, I believe his name is Lane Brown? this is a link to ONE of his beautiful paintings: http://wildweasel339.deviantart.com/art/Rooty-Tooty-196344648
but really he does the most amazing things. especially fantasy landscapes and scenes. It amazes me beyond words.
That's all for this post! More next time! (hopefully that won't be three weeks from now!)
Thursday, July 17, 2014
On to Part Three
Well I'm over halfway through the story on the read-through. Now we're getting to the action.
Part Two is a little beat up, but in a good way. There's a lot I left undeveloped, and a lot I can add to make it fit even better into the story, which was a main concern from the beginning. I've got my notes and while I'm sure when I go back and fix things this part will take more time than the first, I'm not worried.
Going into Part Three I've got to look at a lot of pacing, and this is where many of my main logistical and agreement concerns lie. My notebook's about to get much busier.
So far I've had mostly local problems, and very few if any that affected larger parts of the story and plot. Going forward there's going to be bigger problems. I'm going to try my best to brainstorm solutions as I go, but also to try my best not to get overwhelmed.
It's hard changing something you spent so much time creating, and I find myself wanting to be lazy and saying that something's "good enough." But I can't allow myself to fall into that trap. You don't get better by accepting your faults, but by striving tirelessly to fix them. I have to stay vigilant, no matter how much more work I discover has to be done.
Here's hoping everyone's having an inspired week, as I am.
Part Two is a little beat up, but in a good way. There's a lot I left undeveloped, and a lot I can add to make it fit even better into the story, which was a main concern from the beginning. I've got my notes and while I'm sure when I go back and fix things this part will take more time than the first, I'm not worried.
Going into Part Three I've got to look at a lot of pacing, and this is where many of my main logistical and agreement concerns lie. My notebook's about to get much busier.
So far I've had mostly local problems, and very few if any that affected larger parts of the story and plot. Going forward there's going to be bigger problems. I'm going to try my best to brainstorm solutions as I go, but also to try my best not to get overwhelmed.
It's hard changing something you spent so much time creating, and I find myself wanting to be lazy and saying that something's "good enough." But I can't allow myself to fall into that trap. You don't get better by accepting your faults, but by striving tirelessly to fix them. I have to stay vigilant, no matter how much more work I discover has to be done.
Here's hoping everyone's having an inspired week, as I am.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Reading Through the Mountains
I'm most of the way through Part Two now, still, whichever. It's been slow going this week because I've been doing a bunch of other projects as well. But I'm actually being productive, so that's good!
The Mountains section of the manuscript is as I remembered, a lot of fluff and just pretty things. I'm not going to cut any, just add a lot of information and character development that I was too lazy to put in while I was writing it. I'm going to make it a more important part of the story.
This is just a quick update, my eyes are drooping as I type this and I have a lot to do tomorrow. Sleep tight, everyone.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Wow, That Was a Month.
So this is good, instead of once a week I seem to be keeping very nicely with a monthly posting rate.
Oy.
I finally started editing again, life and being generally in a funk having kept me from it almost completely. This week has been good, though. I'm almost done with part two, and I seem to have different opinions on things than I did while anticipating problems, which is both good and bad. Good because some things don't need to be cut or completely rearranged as I had thought, but bad in that I need to add a lot, especially to part two. I also have found myself thinking things like this:
(Photo: actual note on the manuscript that I found minutes ago)
One habit I've discovered is that of making half-baked characters. Especially with fantasy stories, the cast of characters can become overwhelmingly large, and I'm not that experienced with handling that kind of responsibility. Apparently I can kill hundreds at a time, but God forbid I actually develop a minor character past a name and vague profession.
So I have a lot of that kind of thing to fix.
This weekend I'm going larping again- one of the few activities I've kept up with this summer and is keeping me relatively sane.
Or at least, as sane as someone can be when they rely on larping for a sense of normality.
So I won't be getting any editing done tomorrow through Sunday, but there are people at the event I'm going to ask about some things. I know of others who write, and certainly most everyone there is familiar with fantasy writing. (Seriously, so many there are such amazing storytellers.)
Hope everyone is having a good summer so far!
Have a safe Fourth of July!
Oy.
I finally started editing again, life and being generally in a funk having kept me from it almost completely. This week has been good, though. I'm almost done with part two, and I seem to have different opinions on things than I did while anticipating problems, which is both good and bad. Good because some things don't need to be cut or completely rearranged as I had thought, but bad in that I need to add a lot, especially to part two. I also have found myself thinking things like this:
One habit I've discovered is that of making half-baked characters. Especially with fantasy stories, the cast of characters can become overwhelmingly large, and I'm not that experienced with handling that kind of responsibility. Apparently I can kill hundreds at a time, but God forbid I actually develop a minor character past a name and vague profession.
So I have a lot of that kind of thing to fix.
This weekend I'm going larping again- one of the few activities I've kept up with this summer and is keeping me relatively sane.
Or at least, as sane as someone can be when they rely on larping for a sense of normality.
So I won't be getting any editing done tomorrow through Sunday, but there are people at the event I'm going to ask about some things. I know of others who write, and certainly most everyone there is familiar with fantasy writing. (Seriously, so many there are such amazing storytellers.)
Hope everyone is having a good summer so far!
Have a safe Fourth of July!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Part One Review
I'm most of the way through Part One of the manuscript now. It took me only like, a month and a half! Not really, I only got back to working on it the other day. I've had a... chaotic past couple months. But I'm back to it now!
Now that I'm home from school and safely nestled in the backwoods of New Jersey, caught up on sleep, and have more than two days to prepare for the next larping event, I actually have time. It's a nice feeling, not having finals or papers or Macbeth taking up 20 out of my 24 hours a day.
So the progress: I'm over halfway through Part One. The writing is a bit (or a lot) iffy at some parts, especially in the very beginning so I see why I got so frustrated with it on the first edit. I'm not changing much on the read-through except for miswordings and typos every once in a while. Once I do my major edits I'm planning a third edit to go through and fix the writing more, and that should smooth everything over. I've not found anything unfixable yet, so it's not a frustrating experience [yet].
My notebook is separated by chapter, and I've run into relatively few problems so far, which I'm glad of. Most of it is just tone and writing things. But then again, Part One was never the part I was worried about for logistical inconsistencies, just writing. Hopefully the rest of the manuscript will follow this kind of predictability in what needs to be fixed.
I'm going to get back to it, now! Hope you all are having a great summer so far!
Now that I'm home from school and safely nestled in the backwoods of New Jersey, caught up on sleep, and have more than two days to prepare for the next larping event, I actually have time. It's a nice feeling, not having finals or papers or Macbeth taking up 20 out of my 24 hours a day.
So the progress: I'm over halfway through Part One. The writing is a bit (or a lot) iffy at some parts, especially in the very beginning so I see why I got so frustrated with it on the first edit. I'm not changing much on the read-through except for miswordings and typos every once in a while. Once I do my major edits I'm planning a third edit to go through and fix the writing more, and that should smooth everything over. I've not found anything unfixable yet, so it's not a frustrating experience [yet].
My notebook is separated by chapter, and I've run into relatively few problems so far, which I'm glad of. Most of it is just tone and writing things. But then again, Part One was never the part I was worried about for logistical inconsistencies, just writing. Hopefully the rest of the manuscript will follow this kind of predictability in what needs to be fixed.
I'm going to get back to it, now! Hope you all are having a great summer so far!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Last Weeks in Kentucky
This is one of my last weeks on campus, so though Tech Week for Macbeth is now over, now I have final projects and the like to frantically complete. Basically, I don't have a whole lot of time to sleep, much less edit and otherwise function like a normal human being.
So not a lot of editing has gotten done this week- a little has, but only a very very little. I've read enough to realize how bad the writing is in the beginning of the manuscript- and see how bad my patch job was the first time through. But once I finish the read-through and major cut/pasting, I can go back and make the writing decent. It's not so bad that I can't read it- a little distracting, but more of an incentive to get done and go back to fix it than a soul-crushing hindrance as before.
I should stop procrastinating and get some more work done, but first I'll leave you with a couple sketches I've done this week. (sketching is a good procrastinator, funny enough)
This second one is a uniform of sorts that I thought up for the scholars of the Valley castle- I thought since they're a pretty tight community they might dress differently from others, so here's an idea for a High Wizard costume.
Working on Macbeth's costumes has influence what I'm designing in my head, and now I've been watching a bit more of Game of Thrones (my friends have gotten me hooked, and I've been watching it in between classes because I have no self control) so the costumes on that are making me geek out about gowns and things. Such a pretty show.
Getting back to work now.
Have a good night, everyone!
So not a lot of editing has gotten done this week- a little has, but only a very very little. I've read enough to realize how bad the writing is in the beginning of the manuscript- and see how bad my patch job was the first time through. But once I finish the read-through and major cut/pasting, I can go back and make the writing decent. It's not so bad that I can't read it- a little distracting, but more of an incentive to get done and go back to fix it than a soul-crushing hindrance as before.
I should stop procrastinating and get some more work done, but first I'll leave you with a couple sketches I've done this week. (sketching is a good procrastinator, funny enough)
Working on Macbeth's costumes has influence what I'm designing in my head, and now I've been watching a bit more of Game of Thrones (my friends have gotten me hooked, and I've been watching it in between classes because I have no self control) so the costumes on that are making me geek out about gowns and things. Such a pretty show.
Getting back to work now.
Have a good night, everyone!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
On! To the Second Edit
Greetings!
Due to life and school interfering, I have not gotten back to editing until tonight. As it is I'm typing this from backstage of my school's rendition of Macbeth. Someone just walked by me covered head-to-thigh in fake blood; I've been braiding hair all night; it's all crazy fun.
So. Today was beautiful; Spring in Kentucky is the most beautiful season I've ever seen. My college campus is gorgeous, and it's really inspiring. I've also been doing a lot of good reading for school; Macbeth of course, Emma, Murder in Amsterdam, etc. and now that tech week is dying down for the play I'm ready to use all this momentum and good energy and imagination towards my own projects.
I'm working costumes for Macbeth, and between that and knowing I'll be back in town for the next larping event has made me super pumped about redesigning my costume and sketching characters again. I'm super rusty so no sketches to post yet, but soon.
Today I looked at my editing notes again and decided on my game plan this time around. Last edit I was mostly just fixing whatever I could and making it so I was comfortable with the size and quality of what I was really going to work with. Now I have to do the major changes and heavy cutting and pasting, as well as fixing major plot holes and character and scene inconsistencies.
Right now I have a small list beside my original outline (which turned out to be mostly accurate, besides not including the events of two full chapters and almost the whole of Elle's trip to the Mountains) but it's not very detailed and I'm sure I missed some problems. So I've decided on a three-part plan.
First I'll read through the whole manuscript, without stops. I'll write down all the problems I have and where they affect the story and just general problem areas.
Second comes a revamped outline. On Scrivener everything is set up as an outline in the left margin, which will make it much easier to outline and remember chapter names and things. This outline will concentrate on the main plot and goal of each chapter or part and the things that need fixing to accomplish the goal for that section. I'll code things that are local problems and the ones that are farther reaching-that need fixing in multiple places, such as agreement with a certain scene or character trait. This should give me a good guide to what I have to do.
The third part then should be relatively easy- it's daunting now to say "just go and fix everything" but once I have done the first two parts I'll know exactly what needs to be done and a better idea of what specifically I need to do to fix it- I will use my new outline/editing guide and do the fixes. This will involve mostly cutting and pasting and adding or deleting or tweaking scenes to make things agree.
I'm going to go continue my outline now. Wish me luck!
Due to life and school interfering, I have not gotten back to editing until tonight. As it is I'm typing this from backstage of my school's rendition of Macbeth. Someone just walked by me covered head-to-thigh in fake blood; I've been braiding hair all night; it's all crazy fun.
So. Today was beautiful; Spring in Kentucky is the most beautiful season I've ever seen. My college campus is gorgeous, and it's really inspiring. I've also been doing a lot of good reading for school; Macbeth of course, Emma, Murder in Amsterdam, etc. and now that tech week is dying down for the play I'm ready to use all this momentum and good energy and imagination towards my own projects.
I'm working costumes for Macbeth, and between that and knowing I'll be back in town for the next larping event has made me super pumped about redesigning my costume and sketching characters again. I'm super rusty so no sketches to post yet, but soon.
Today I looked at my editing notes again and decided on my game plan this time around. Last edit I was mostly just fixing whatever I could and making it so I was comfortable with the size and quality of what I was really going to work with. Now I have to do the major changes and heavy cutting and pasting, as well as fixing major plot holes and character and scene inconsistencies.
Right now I have a small list beside my original outline (which turned out to be mostly accurate, besides not including the events of two full chapters and almost the whole of Elle's trip to the Mountains) but it's not very detailed and I'm sure I missed some problems. So I've decided on a three-part plan.
First I'll read through the whole manuscript, without stops. I'll write down all the problems I have and where they affect the story and just general problem areas.
Second comes a revamped outline. On Scrivener everything is set up as an outline in the left margin, which will make it much easier to outline and remember chapter names and things. This outline will concentrate on the main plot and goal of each chapter or part and the things that need fixing to accomplish the goal for that section. I'll code things that are local problems and the ones that are farther reaching-that need fixing in multiple places, such as agreement with a certain scene or character trait. This should give me a good guide to what I have to do.
The third part then should be relatively easy- it's daunting now to say "just go and fix everything" but once I have done the first two parts I'll know exactly what needs to be done and a better idea of what specifically I need to do to fix it- I will use my new outline/editing guide and do the fixes. This will involve mostly cutting and pasting and adding or deleting or tweaking scenes to make things agree.
I'm going to go continue my outline now. Wish me luck!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
First Edits Done
It's done. I've gotten through the whole manuscript. Wow, that's pretty cool.
So the first edit is done, which is awesome, and I feel like I fixed a lot of the writing. Now I know what major problems need to be fixed, and for the second edits I can go back and do the major cutting and pasting and touching up logistical problems and anomalies.
But first I'm going to take a small vacation. My spring break is next week, so I'll spend that time to do some more editing research, relax, and maybe get some work done on other projects. I haven't written any short things really, I think I'll try and get a few written to get back into writing, instead of just editing. I might even look at my failed NaNo attempt and see if it's worth salvaging.
I'm also going to be working on my art portfolio again, so I'll probably do some more sketches for y'all as I do that. What kind of images are you guys curious about? I'm thinking of doing some more landscape and architecture sketches, I do so few of those.
I do have one sketch to post now- I redid an interior sketch I drew a long time ago. I've fixed a lot of discrepancies and will try and restart that digital painting of it I wanted to do.
So there's that. Wow, I can't believe that last half went so quickly. Kind of makes me scared to go back and see why the beginning gave me such trouble; I doubt I fixed it all up.
I've got a lot of schoolwork to get done now that I can't use my manuscript to procrastinate, so... I guess I'll see you all in two weeks!
Monday, March 10, 2014
What a Fantastic, Wonderful World
This last week has been awesome. In just about every way.
But especially regarding editing progress! I'm kind of on a role, have edited a good amount every day, and gotten through a huge chunk of text. I've organized and edited quite a few chapters-worth of material, and gotten through I think like 30k words. That means of course....
...That I'm three-quarters of the way through! I have around 50k words left, and I expect it to go pretty quickly, seeing how the last 50k went. I'm on a very productive streak right now. But the last part is also more recent, so the writing should be more according to my present level. Of course my present skill level in writing may not be amazing anyway, but at least it's waaay better than it was two years ago. Way. Better.
I now run the risk- and I feel I was doing this over the weekend, when I went through a huge mass of text in one sitting- of just reading instead of editing. Which is good in that I find my own writing decent enough to enjoy reading, but also bad because I'm not thinking or reading as critically when I do that, I think. So I'm going to try not to do too much at once (who thought I'd ever have this problem) so I won't fall into an easy and lazy habit.
Many major things need to be solved- like major choices made by characters- there was something that impacted many chapters that was caused by Taim, but I don't remember the reasoning I put behind it when I wrote it, since it doesn't seem to make sense now. These types of things I've made notes of (something Scrivener has been awesome about and is very handy for) and will review my original story notes and figure out solutions for my second edit. That may be the procrastinator in me, but I don't want to stop my momentum now and I can't wait to get the preliminary editing done.
So I'll see you next week! And hey, I'm even getting to bed before midnight tonight! What a grownup.
Page: 306/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing, especially regarding action and suspense for emotional scenes.
-making sure characters agree both with their own reason in their decisions and actual logic.
But especially regarding editing progress! I'm kind of on a role, have edited a good amount every day, and gotten through a huge chunk of text. I've organized and edited quite a few chapters-worth of material, and gotten through I think like 30k words. That means of course....
...That I'm three-quarters of the way through! I have around 50k words left, and I expect it to go pretty quickly, seeing how the last 50k went. I'm on a very productive streak right now. But the last part is also more recent, so the writing should be more according to my present level. Of course my present skill level in writing may not be amazing anyway, but at least it's waaay better than it was two years ago. Way. Better.
I now run the risk- and I feel I was doing this over the weekend, when I went through a huge mass of text in one sitting- of just reading instead of editing. Which is good in that I find my own writing decent enough to enjoy reading, but also bad because I'm not thinking or reading as critically when I do that, I think. So I'm going to try not to do too much at once (who thought I'd ever have this problem) so I won't fall into an easy and lazy habit.
Many major things need to be solved- like major choices made by characters- there was something that impacted many chapters that was caused by Taim, but I don't remember the reasoning I put behind it when I wrote it, since it doesn't seem to make sense now. These types of things I've made notes of (something Scrivener has been awesome about and is very handy for) and will review my original story notes and figure out solutions for my second edit. That may be the procrastinator in me, but I don't want to stop my momentum now and I can't wait to get the preliminary editing done.
So I'll see you next week! And hey, I'm even getting to bed before midnight tonight! What a grownup.
Page: 306/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing, especially regarding action and suspense for emotional scenes.
-making sure characters agree both with their own reason in their decisions and actual logic.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Finally Intensity
I started my daily editing around nine thirty this evening... Or technically last night, since I got super carried away and it's now twelve forty-five AM. Oops? But I just edited a very exciting bit- a bit including my first fight scene of the book.
I think my timing was well done during the first fight scene, and I remember being very careful to line everything up. I'm still finding mistakes of course, and with fast-pace scenes it's harder to make action ownership clear, so I'm working on that.
Otherwise I'm very happy with this- the action has started, it isn't horrible, and I'm working with newer writing as well as characters that I dearly missed that were not in the first half of the book. I don't know if I should worry about this, but I seem to have introduced a whole new cast of characters for the second half of the story, mostly due to relocation. Would that ruin continuity or all the work I've put into developing other characters? All characters reappear by the end of the book, they're not gone forever, of course, but I don't know if that's something that sits well with readers. Anyone have any advice regarding that?
This past week I missed a lot of days for editing due to my life being for a brief period of time CHAOS ITSELF, but especially regarding my binge tonight, I think I'm still on track. Not that I really have a track, other than just constant progress. Because I'm obviously a very organized person(NOT). I love having these random three to five hour spans of productivity. It's like my brain decided to cooperate unconditionally this once.
I had to stop and post this because I need to go to bed/do more homework before I go to bed because I promised myself I would. My Humanities class is reading Macbeth this week- one of the only Shakespeare plays to have a well rounded female character. So I'm excited- I've read it before but the class is being taught by the drama professor who's directing Macbeth this semester (a happy coincidence) and it's going to be an interesting next couple weeks going through it. Swords have already made one appearance in the classroom (like, real ones).
Page: 258/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing, especially regarding action and suspense for emotional scenes.
-not letting this part of the story drag, especially for the next few chapters.
I think my timing was well done during the first fight scene, and I remember being very careful to line everything up. I'm still finding mistakes of course, and with fast-pace scenes it's harder to make action ownership clear, so I'm working on that.
Otherwise I'm very happy with this- the action has started, it isn't horrible, and I'm working with newer writing as well as characters that I dearly missed that were not in the first half of the book. I don't know if I should worry about this, but I seem to have introduced a whole new cast of characters for the second half of the story, mostly due to relocation. Would that ruin continuity or all the work I've put into developing other characters? All characters reappear by the end of the book, they're not gone forever, of course, but I don't know if that's something that sits well with readers. Anyone have any advice regarding that?
This past week I missed a lot of days for editing due to my life being for a brief period of time CHAOS ITSELF, but especially regarding my binge tonight, I think I'm still on track. Not that I really have a track, other than just constant progress. Because I'm obviously a very organized person(NOT). I love having these random three to five hour spans of productivity. It's like my brain decided to cooperate unconditionally this once.
I had to stop and post this because I need to go to bed/do more homework before I go to bed because I promised myself I would. My Humanities class is reading Macbeth this week- one of the only Shakespeare plays to have a well rounded female character. So I'm excited- I've read it before but the class is being taught by the drama professor who's directing Macbeth this semester (a happy coincidence) and it's going to be an interesting next couple weeks going through it. Swords have already made one appearance in the classroom (like, real ones).
Page: 258/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing, especially regarding action and suspense for emotional scenes.
-not letting this part of the story drag, especially for the next few chapters.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Tidings from the River
I've just edited the very last scene before the official arrival of Elle and the party in the Desert. I get to start tomorrow fresh in an entirely different setting!
My research for the desert was really fun and I can't wait to go back through it. I want to make the setting especially vivid going forward, since it's such a foreign and dangerous place to Elle. I put a lot more confusing and dangerous elements into it than even a normal desert has (because hey, magic- if not to make your characters frightened, what IS it good for?) and hopefully that strangeness will be pretty constant. There are a lot of developments for Elle, especially because she goes through some really mentally trying things that change her, and I want to get the stress of a formidable place right.
That's really all going into it, I've been keeping up with editing fairly well, except over this past weekend. Last weekend, though I forgot to mention it, was a hugely productive one. I sat for over three hours straight editing last Saturday- a feat of patience and an attention span I just did not have three weeks ago. Consistent creativity really is amazing for the brain. I've also been helped by my roommate introducing me to habitrpg.com, which is this amazing game-type thing. It's basically your to-do list but with rewards for your own fantasy-type character when you do them, and there are pets and weapons and other things... It's really helpful especially if you're super competitive, like me. I found myself Friday night looking over homework that I could do just to get more points, which is both something my parents are going to be proud to read and very, very frightening. I'm fueled almost purely by the infuriating fact my roommate is level 14 and I am currently on level 5.
But once I finish writing this post I'll get points since it's on my to-do list. And then I can buy an axe before I go to sleep.
Since it's ridiculously late and I've had a very strange day I'm going to deprive you of a summary list. So all I have to say is good night/good morning, and I hope everyone is safe and doing well.
For those of you out there having a bad one, remember to love something, and no matter how small or big it is, it will get you through.
My research for the desert was really fun and I can't wait to go back through it. I want to make the setting especially vivid going forward, since it's such a foreign and dangerous place to Elle. I put a lot more confusing and dangerous elements into it than even a normal desert has (because hey, magic- if not to make your characters frightened, what IS it good for?) and hopefully that strangeness will be pretty constant. There are a lot of developments for Elle, especially because she goes through some really mentally trying things that change her, and I want to get the stress of a formidable place right.
That's really all going into it, I've been keeping up with editing fairly well, except over this past weekend. Last weekend, though I forgot to mention it, was a hugely productive one. I sat for over three hours straight editing last Saturday- a feat of patience and an attention span I just did not have three weeks ago. Consistent creativity really is amazing for the brain. I've also been helped by my roommate introducing me to habitrpg.com, which is this amazing game-type thing. It's basically your to-do list but with rewards for your own fantasy-type character when you do them, and there are pets and weapons and other things... It's really helpful especially if you're super competitive, like me. I found myself Friday night looking over homework that I could do just to get more points, which is both something my parents are going to be proud to read and very, very frightening. I'm fueled almost purely by the infuriating fact my roommate is level 14 and I am currently on level 5.
But once I finish writing this post I'll get points since it's on my to-do list. And then I can buy an axe before I go to sleep.
Since it's ridiculously late and I've had a very strange day I'm going to deprive you of a summary list. So all I have to say is good night/good morning, and I hope everyone is safe and doing well.
For those of you out there having a bad one, remember to love something, and no matter how small or big it is, it will get you through.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Halfway!
I'm officially over the half-way mark in editing! (At least for the first run-through)
But it's really exciting. I have around 90k words left, which are already divided into two big chunks.
I knocked through the middle chunk this weekend at an amazing pace- as my friend suggested, the muse visited, and I sat for over three hours straight editing this thing. I think it's mostly because I got to a point where the original writing WASN'T horrible should-be-burned quality- which is also really exciting! It's fun not to hate my own stuff!
I'm also completely out of the middle part of my manuscript now, moving on as soon as I post this to Part Three. Much excitement. BRING THE ACTION.
Another reason for my inspiration this weekend I think came from watching a couple Ghibli films. I watched Spirited Away and Ponyo each for the first time, and they're just (oh my god) beautiful. Not only is the art amaaaazing, but the stories themselves amazed me- I can't think of many (if any, other than Ghibli) films that focus on love in the same way. In Spirited Away and Ponyo the protagonists are all young children, and yet they succeed due to true love. It is refreshing, because it isn't necessarily romantic love, but it isn't just the love of a family member, like a lot of things with younger protagonists focus on. It's just true love- which is really actually simple, despite how we seem to overanalyze and categorize it in real life. Why can't we just love wholly and with abandon, without having to invalidate or categorize it? It's limiting and I like that Ghibli did away with those boundaries.
The only way all that is relevant is that I would like to include something like that- in fact I think that's what I did try to do with one of my characters (who conveniently is introduced in Part Three) and maybe I can do a better job now, being aware of that and seeing it successfully (and beautifully) done.
I may or may not have to go draw some Spirited Away fanart. (But more editing first!)
Page: 222/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing (I've noticed many things I've done right with pacing and many instances where I've done it very horribly wrong, so I want to play more with that now that I see it. I feel like it might become even more important, with the coming action.)
Hope you all had a wonderful Saint Valentine's Day!
But it's really exciting. I have around 90k words left, which are already divided into two big chunks.
I knocked through the middle chunk this weekend at an amazing pace- as my friend suggested, the muse visited, and I sat for over three hours straight editing this thing. I think it's mostly because I got to a point where the original writing WASN'T horrible should-be-burned quality- which is also really exciting! It's fun not to hate my own stuff!
I'm also completely out of the middle part of my manuscript now, moving on as soon as I post this to Part Three. Much excitement. BRING THE ACTION.
Another reason for my inspiration this weekend I think came from watching a couple Ghibli films. I watched Spirited Away and Ponyo each for the first time, and they're just (oh my god) beautiful. Not only is the art amaaaazing, but the stories themselves amazed me- I can't think of many (if any, other than Ghibli) films that focus on love in the same way. In Spirited Away and Ponyo the protagonists are all young children, and yet they succeed due to true love. It is refreshing, because it isn't necessarily romantic love, but it isn't just the love of a family member, like a lot of things with younger protagonists focus on. It's just true love- which is really actually simple, despite how we seem to overanalyze and categorize it in real life. Why can't we just love wholly and with abandon, without having to invalidate or categorize it? It's limiting and I like that Ghibli did away with those boundaries.
The only way all that is relevant is that I would like to include something like that- in fact I think that's what I did try to do with one of my characters (who conveniently is introduced in Part Three) and maybe I can do a better job now, being aware of that and seeing it successfully (and beautifully) done.
I may or may not have to go draw some Spirited Away fanart. (But more editing first!)
Page: 222/415
Problems I'm Thinking About:
-logistical consistency
-character development
-messy writing and being too wordy(one of my main problems. It's horrific, really.)
-Pacing (I've noticed many things I've done right with pacing and many instances where I've done it very horribly wrong, so I want to play more with that now that I see it. I feel like it might become even more important, with the coming action.)
Hope you all had a wonderful Saint Valentine's Day!
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Whoa, Look it's 2014!
Hello, All!
I've been gone a while, I know. Shame on me. To be honest I just picked up editing again last week, and until then I refused to post before I had something to report on. So here I am!
I've gotten around half a chapter done every day I've worked on it for the past week or so, so that's a good pace- as long as I'm actually getting stuff done. I'm about halfway through, which is exciting! the chapter I'm editing at the moment is toward the end of Part Two. Part Three is going to be a long one.
It's strange to think I wrote the words I'm editing over a year ago. Thankfully, I seem to have reached a point where I was writing well, which is a great relief. Editing was going horribly slowly and was just plain discouraging before, but I'm not actively hating what I see on the page now. Besides some overall agreement in what characters said earlier in the story and logistical things like- in this one scene I seem to have changed my mind on who was in the room after I wrote it, so I have to make a decision and fix that. There are a few characters I've been noting need some more TLC, too. But really, all's well, and it's such a relief.
The next part- Part Three, the Desert, is very long, but also has the majority of the action-y action, and is more fast-paced and (hopefully) suspenseful and blood-pumping. I also wrote it more recently, so I trust that writing more. I'm really excited for it! I remember actually writing the post about reaching Part Three on this blog.
It's entertaining, the strange things I remember when I reach certain points in the story. like "Oh I was eating pickles when I wrote this" or "Ah, that description was inspired by the lovely weather the day I wrote it (even if the description had nothing to do with weather)" and I wonder if professional authors remember things like that when they look at their own books. I wonder if a book really stays so personal, specific, and 'your own' even after editing and once it goes through the publishing process.
So here's where I am so far:
Page: 178/415
Problems I'm Thinking About
-logistical consistency
-tweaking language and messy writing
-avoiding a middle slump in the story
I've been gone a while, I know. Shame on me. To be honest I just picked up editing again last week, and until then I refused to post before I had something to report on. So here I am!
I've gotten around half a chapter done every day I've worked on it for the past week or so, so that's a good pace- as long as I'm actually getting stuff done. I'm about halfway through, which is exciting! the chapter I'm editing at the moment is toward the end of Part Two. Part Three is going to be a long one.
It's strange to think I wrote the words I'm editing over a year ago. Thankfully, I seem to have reached a point where I was writing well, which is a great relief. Editing was going horribly slowly and was just plain discouraging before, but I'm not actively hating what I see on the page now. Besides some overall agreement in what characters said earlier in the story and logistical things like- in this one scene I seem to have changed my mind on who was in the room after I wrote it, so I have to make a decision and fix that. There are a few characters I've been noting need some more TLC, too. But really, all's well, and it's such a relief.
The next part- Part Three, the Desert, is very long, but also has the majority of the action-y action, and is more fast-paced and (hopefully) suspenseful and blood-pumping. I also wrote it more recently, so I trust that writing more. I'm really excited for it! I remember actually writing the post about reaching Part Three on this blog.
It's entertaining, the strange things I remember when I reach certain points in the story. like "Oh I was eating pickles when I wrote this" or "Ah, that description was inspired by the lovely weather the day I wrote it (even if the description had nothing to do with weather)" and I wonder if professional authors remember things like that when they look at their own books. I wonder if a book really stays so personal, specific, and 'your own' even after editing and once it goes through the publishing process.
So here's where I am so far:
Page: 178/415
Problems I'm Thinking About
-logistical consistency
-tweaking language and messy writing
-avoiding a middle slump in the story
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