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.
Monday, February 24, 2014
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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