I've been wavering for about two weeks now on whether or not to do NaNo - and then today I work up and realised that whatthefreakingCRAP, November is Monday. MON-DAY, people!! I was going to be super organised this year and at the very least, even if I didn't do it myself, I was going to enquire about running the Young Writers Program at school, since I know a whole bunch of students that would be interested.
Alack, 'twas not to be. Next year.
But, back to me, and whether or not I'll be participating. My answer (at the moment) is a tentative yes. Tentative, because I have no idea what I'll work on. Tentative, because my word count for the last two months combined is less than 5500 words. Tentative, because exams and report writing and final assessments all occur in November. Tentative, because my main WIP at the moment has been dead in the water for the last several months.
Only, I just unstuck the WIP last night. I finally figured out/remembered/restarted the useless lump of grey I call a brain that when I get blocked this badly for this long, it's usually not a life thing; it's a story thing.
And oh look, hey presto, muse wakes up from snoring in her little corner and goes - well DUH. Here are the problems, and this is how to fix them.
And I go:
**FACEPALM**
Ahem.
So. NaNo: a tentative yes. Whether or not I'll actually work on the WIP remains to be seen. Probably I'll do what I've always intended to do in other years, and just shoot for word count, without worrying what it's on. We can already see I'm intending to cheat - er, bend the rules, since WIP is in progress already. And there are a cycle of stories (one of which is Forget, currently in print over at Allegory) that have been bugging me a lot lately, and that I want to work some more on.
Just call me the Wafflenator.
Anyway. All you infinitely more sensible people - Nano: in or out?
Showing posts with label Borderlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Borderlands. Show all posts
29 October 2010
09 June 2010
Sometimes, Writing Hurts
So. Tired. That’s pretty much the sum of my life, lately. This term has been an absolute shocker – but the good news is, term two is pretty much agreed to be the hardest term of the year, and it’s NEARLY OVER!
Despite all this, I have actually been managing to squeeze in some words here and there, and I’m on target to meet my usual minimum of 10k for the month.
HOWEVER.
The story, she hurts.
After writing Sanctuary and having it mostly come out so easy, I guess I’d naively assumed that that was how it was going to be from here on in: I’d sit down, ideas brimming, voice chattering, and just... write.
Yeah, no. For anyone out there who still harbours a shred of delusion that this gig is, you know, easy – give that up right now. Seriously. It’ll make things easier in the long run. Because writing is not easy, not by any stretch of the imagination.
But just because it’s difficult, doesn’t make it wrong. Sitting back and looking at what I have so far of the novel (just over 11k), it’s actually not that bad, for a first draft. There’s promise, and I know where I want to go with it, and I know that in a few chapters’ time things are going to get really, really shiny.
You know how sometimes you’re writing along, beating the words out of your brain, only to realise as you put them on the page that you’re actually – le gasp – bored? Usually, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re writing a boring scene; if you’re bored, your reader probably will be too. But not always. I’m pretty well convinced that the scenes I’m writing right now are necessary – and I’ve gotten some good feedback on the first half of what I’ve written. It’s not terrible, there’s mystery and Things At Stake – it’s just not the bit I want to be writing right now.
Which, when I thought on it, reminded me: stories like to be written differently. For me, anyway. They all have their own personalities, and Borderlands has always been a story that fought lineality. And yet, I’ve been trying to write it in order, trying to navigate a complicated timeline and convoluted structure without really knowing what I have first.
So. Back to – well, not the drawing board, but to a different approach. Which means I have to release the need to send my progress to my alpha reader, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I guess.
On that note, off to write :)
Despite all this, I have actually been managing to squeeze in some words here and there, and I’m on target to meet my usual minimum of 10k for the month.
HOWEVER.
The story, she hurts.
After writing Sanctuary and having it mostly come out so easy, I guess I’d naively assumed that that was how it was going to be from here on in: I’d sit down, ideas brimming, voice chattering, and just... write.
Yeah, no. For anyone out there who still harbours a shred of delusion that this gig is, you know, easy – give that up right now. Seriously. It’ll make things easier in the long run. Because writing is not easy, not by any stretch of the imagination.
But just because it’s difficult, doesn’t make it wrong. Sitting back and looking at what I have so far of the novel (just over 11k), it’s actually not that bad, for a first draft. There’s promise, and I know where I want to go with it, and I know that in a few chapters’ time things are going to get really, really shiny.
You know how sometimes you’re writing along, beating the words out of your brain, only to realise as you put them on the page that you’re actually – le gasp – bored? Usually, it’s a pretty good indication that you’re writing a boring scene; if you’re bored, your reader probably will be too. But not always. I’m pretty well convinced that the scenes I’m writing right now are necessary – and I’ve gotten some good feedback on the first half of what I’ve written. It’s not terrible, there’s mystery and Things At Stake – it’s just not the bit I want to be writing right now.
Which, when I thought on it, reminded me: stories like to be written differently. For me, anyway. They all have their own personalities, and Borderlands has always been a story that fought lineality. And yet, I’ve been trying to write it in order, trying to navigate a complicated timeline and convoluted structure without really knowing what I have first.
So. Back to – well, not the drawing board, but to a different approach. Which means I have to release the need to send my progress to my alpha reader, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I guess.
On that note, off to write :)
07 June 2010
Writing Snippet: Borderlands
Borderlands, my current WIP, has an alternating structure, THEN sections with NOW. This is an excerpt from the first NOW section. Remember, rough draft, completely unedited, blah blah, etc etc. Be nice :P :)
The shout that echoed down the street was perhaps even more disturbing for its volume than its content; no one shouted in the City, ever, for any reason. So Kuyen was not the only citizen who whipped around to stare at the man in strange layered and divided clothing who was running towards them, cloth flapping behind him, at first glance pursuing a young girl but, Kuyen surmised a second later, actually running with the girl, if a little behind.
Kuyen rubbed her nose. Very strange indeed. She wished Samir was here to sniff for her and warn her of any danger.
The man gesticulated wildly at the staring people. “Run!” His shout came even louder as he drew closer, and Kuyen felt a grain of uncertainty. Perhaps maybe she should run... If only Samir was here.
She glanced back at the water and her pulse leapt. The once-docile stream now foamed and bit at its banks, a rushing turbulence that promised to carry away any who fell at its side. Kuyen felt as though she’d returned to her home in the Embassy to find Samir suddenly turned rabid.
One more look at the man and the young girl dashing towards them down the street convinced her; she turned and fled.
The water roared, bringing with it the smell of cold stone and minerals, and long-forgotten places underground. All around her, people began to scream as slowly, inexorably, the water breached the cobbled walls that held it in and flooded up the street, lapping at fleeing feet, tangling and tripping.
Shrieks mingled with splashes as the water rushed on, and even though she ran as hard and as high as she could, keeping so close to the buildings on her right that she knew she’d bear the grazes for at least a week, the water tugged at Kuyen’s feet too.
To her left, the man and girl overtook her, knees lifting high as they sought freedom from the binding water. She clutched at her soggy skirt, hoicking it up around her thighs and splashing through the flood. Her spare hand clutched at her ears, trying to block out the sound of screams, of gurgles, of her own terror tearing from her mouth and streaming down her now-wet face.
In front of her, the girl tripped.
The water surged as though it had been waiting. It gulped her up, and though she struggled it tore her from the street and swept her into the drain – and then, like a sluice gate had been lowered or a switch flicked, the flood abated, the water’s hunger satiated, and all that was left on the street were the sodden forms of those who’d fallen, and the man, who threw himself to his knees at the water’s very edge and gave a cry that twisted Kuyen’s stomach and brought her reeling to the ground.
The shout that echoed down the street was perhaps even more disturbing for its volume than its content; no one shouted in the City, ever, for any reason. So Kuyen was not the only citizen who whipped around to stare at the man in strange layered and divided clothing who was running towards them, cloth flapping behind him, at first glance pursuing a young girl but, Kuyen surmised a second later, actually running with the girl, if a little behind.
Kuyen rubbed her nose. Very strange indeed. She wished Samir was here to sniff for her and warn her of any danger.
The man gesticulated wildly at the staring people. “Run!” His shout came even louder as he drew closer, and Kuyen felt a grain of uncertainty. Perhaps maybe she should run... If only Samir was here.
She glanced back at the water and her pulse leapt. The once-docile stream now foamed and bit at its banks, a rushing turbulence that promised to carry away any who fell at its side. Kuyen felt as though she’d returned to her home in the Embassy to find Samir suddenly turned rabid.
One more look at the man and the young girl dashing towards them down the street convinced her; she turned and fled.
The water roared, bringing with it the smell of cold stone and minerals, and long-forgotten places underground. All around her, people began to scream as slowly, inexorably, the water breached the cobbled walls that held it in and flooded up the street, lapping at fleeing feet, tangling and tripping.
Shrieks mingled with splashes as the water rushed on, and even though she ran as hard and as high as she could, keeping so close to the buildings on her right that she knew she’d bear the grazes for at least a week, the water tugged at Kuyen’s feet too.
To her left, the man and girl overtook her, knees lifting high as they sought freedom from the binding water. She clutched at her soggy skirt, hoicking it up around her thighs and splashing through the flood. Her spare hand clutched at her ears, trying to block out the sound of screams, of gurgles, of her own terror tearing from her mouth and streaming down her now-wet face.
In front of her, the girl tripped.
The water surged as though it had been waiting. It gulped her up, and though she struggled it tore her from the street and swept her into the drain – and then, like a sluice gate had been lowered or a switch flicked, the flood abated, the water’s hunger satiated, and all that was left on the street were the sodden forms of those who’d fallen, and the man, who threw himself to his knees at the water’s very edge and gave a cry that twisted Kuyen’s stomach and brought her reeling to the ground.
04 June 2010
May: It's Over!
Which is, in my opinion, cause for much celebration. May was a hard month, following on the heels of a hard month. We moved house, we moved my mother in law, I had to deal with my first batch of final grading/report writing fun, during which the computer make a vow to drive me as insane as possible by eating all my work at one point, two days before everything was due o.O Yeah, much fun. Also, I got sick :P
This is all very tragic, because autumn is usually my favourite season, and the weather has actually been quite pleasant this year. Or maybe it's just that I'm regaining circulation, living in a warm house and working in a warm office, so I'm not feeling it as much as I used to O:) :D
Either way, 'tis all behind me, and June is set to be much more pleasant - not least of which because school holidays are coming up ;)
For May Madness, however, there is not much to report: I managed a total of 4,624 words, less dismal that I initially expected, but still in the bottom six months of all time. Pretty much all of the writing was on Borderlands, my current wip. I'll pop a blurb up on the wip page soon, but suffice to say it's dark, it's adult, it's confronting, and it's fun as anything to write B-) Woo, underground cities and evil machines and elemental power! Ensnarement, torture, war and pillaging! Death! Destruction! And the obligatory (for me) shiny, shiny rainbow magic, waaaay on the other side of the desert.
Yes, I do loves my Borderlands B-)
The only other thing I worked on was yet another beginning for a Secret Breaker novel. The Secret Breaker series is my urban fantasy series about people with the psychic ability to detect secrets and lies - intentionally and not. It's a lot of fun - urban fantasy complete with kick-ass heroines, splashes of romance, and a bit of gothic-inspired fun in the shape of imposing mansions, hidden crazy ladies and the like. Sadly, I have about four beginnings for novels in this series lying around, and nothing else o.O Ah well. Not a priority at the moment; I'll finish Borderlands first.
Of course, what I really should be doing is tidying up Sanctuary :P But forcing myself to focus on editing is beyond my brain capacity right now; that's what I'm claiming, anyway O:)
But anyway, all of this has gotten me thinking about doing a post about my main series (about six, I think). Would anyone be interested in hearing about that? Or are the only people who might be interested the people who already know all about them? :D
And the ultimate question, of course: How was YOUR May? O:)
This is all very tragic, because autumn is usually my favourite season, and the weather has actually been quite pleasant this year. Or maybe it's just that I'm regaining circulation, living in a warm house and working in a warm office, so I'm not feeling it as much as I used to O:) :D
Either way, 'tis all behind me, and June is set to be much more pleasant - not least of which because school holidays are coming up ;)
For May Madness, however, there is not much to report: I managed a total of 4,624 words, less dismal that I initially expected, but still in the bottom six months of all time. Pretty much all of the writing was on Borderlands, my current wip. I'll pop a blurb up on the wip page soon, but suffice to say it's dark, it's adult, it's confronting, and it's fun as anything to write B-) Woo, underground cities and evil machines and elemental power! Ensnarement, torture, war and pillaging! Death! Destruction! And the obligatory (for me) shiny, shiny rainbow magic, waaaay on the other side of the desert.
Yes, I do loves my Borderlands B-)
The only other thing I worked on was yet another beginning for a Secret Breaker novel. The Secret Breaker series is my urban fantasy series about people with the psychic ability to detect secrets and lies - intentionally and not. It's a lot of fun - urban fantasy complete with kick-ass heroines, splashes of romance, and a bit of gothic-inspired fun in the shape of imposing mansions, hidden crazy ladies and the like. Sadly, I have about four beginnings for novels in this series lying around, and nothing else o.O Ah well. Not a priority at the moment; I'll finish Borderlands first.
Of course, what I really should be doing is tidying up Sanctuary :P But forcing myself to focus on editing is beyond my brain capacity right now; that's what I'm claiming, anyway O:)
But anyway, all of this has gotten me thinking about doing a post about my main series (about six, I think). Would anyone be interested in hearing about that? Or are the only people who might be interested the people who already know all about them? :D
And the ultimate question, of course: How was YOUR May? O:)
24 July 2009
Beginning Again
So, it’s About That Time Again: the Beginning.
Having finished the first draft of Jesscapades, I’ve shoved it aside for a month (quite convenient, since I’m tripping around the globe) and am ignoring it.
Sadly – or not sadly, actually :D – I can’t ignore writing, even when on holiday in the middle of a European summer. I lasted two weeks before I just had to start writing again :D
For a little while, I worked on The Black Gates, a novel I’ve been poking off and on since about 2001 (!). This time, I’ve made genuine progress: I’ve actually figured out the structure of the thing, which, trust me, is worthy of a post of its own o.O
But today, something else grabbed me: Borderlands, a strange little creature of a novel, a fantasy thriller that’s been bubbling away in my head for about a year. I had a dream two weeks ago that was so good I even dreamed that I’d woken up and written it down, and when I woke up for real I knew it was related to Borderlands – but I didn’t know how.
I worried away at it for a few days and figured out a loose connection – and my muse stopped there. Nothing else. Zip. Nada.
So I went to work on The Black Gates, and started writing new scenes and editing old ones, and I have about 20k over about 12 chapters at the moment – though some still needs editing. Well, it’s a first draft, all of it needs editing – but some of the old stuff needs editing to fit into the new structure.
But TODAY... Today I was Bitten.
Borderlands, ladies and gents, has Begun.
And it’s terrifying.
Why?
Not because of the content, but because of how little I know about how the plot all fits together still. I have only the vaguest sense of what the conflict is and who the MC is; I know that she can’t remember her past, and I know that there are two parallel storylines in the book – and I know who the main villain is.
But how all the tiny jigsaw pieces that I’m currently holding fit – where they fit – well, it reminds me a little of the time when a few friends and I did a double-sided puzzled of polar bears on snow o.O You just have to start, somewhere, anywhere, and you’ll never really know you’ve got it right until you’re done; and sometimes, you’ll discover that a whole section of the puzzle is upside down (because of the double-sided nature of the puzzle) and you need to flip it all around.
Beginning is scary, but it’s also exhilarating. There are no real plans right now, so nothing I do can be wrong. I’m free to write, to explore, to be lead entirely by my imagination and see what happens.
It’s scary, it’s thrilling, and I’m so glad to be starting something new and exciting again. This is a good feeling; and I totally remember why it’s so tempting, mid-book, to start a new one :D
But despite the glamour and allure of beginnings, I know the pleasure of endings, too; I know what it’s like to stick a book out until the bitter end – and I’m excited to see what the end of Borderlands will bring, whenever that may be.
How about you guys? Do you like beginning new projects? Ever get that terrifying – oh-my-goodness-I-have-no-idea-what’s-going-to-happen – feeling? What do you do about it?
Having finished the first draft of Jesscapades, I’ve shoved it aside for a month (quite convenient, since I’m tripping around the globe) and am ignoring it.
Sadly – or not sadly, actually :D – I can’t ignore writing, even when on holiday in the middle of a European summer. I lasted two weeks before I just had to start writing again :D
For a little while, I worked on The Black Gates, a novel I’ve been poking off and on since about 2001 (!). This time, I’ve made genuine progress: I’ve actually figured out the structure of the thing, which, trust me, is worthy of a post of its own o.O
But today, something else grabbed me: Borderlands, a strange little creature of a novel, a fantasy thriller that’s been bubbling away in my head for about a year. I had a dream two weeks ago that was so good I even dreamed that I’d woken up and written it down, and when I woke up for real I knew it was related to Borderlands – but I didn’t know how.
I worried away at it for a few days and figured out a loose connection – and my muse stopped there. Nothing else. Zip. Nada.
So I went to work on The Black Gates, and started writing new scenes and editing old ones, and I have about 20k over about 12 chapters at the moment – though some still needs editing. Well, it’s a first draft, all of it needs editing – but some of the old stuff needs editing to fit into the new structure.
But TODAY... Today I was Bitten.
Borderlands, ladies and gents, has Begun.
And it’s terrifying.
Why?
Not because of the content, but because of how little I know about how the plot all fits together still. I have only the vaguest sense of what the conflict is and who the MC is; I know that she can’t remember her past, and I know that there are two parallel storylines in the book – and I know who the main villain is.
But how all the tiny jigsaw pieces that I’m currently holding fit – where they fit – well, it reminds me a little of the time when a few friends and I did a double-sided puzzled of polar bears on snow o.O You just have to start, somewhere, anywhere, and you’ll never really know you’ve got it right until you’re done; and sometimes, you’ll discover that a whole section of the puzzle is upside down (because of the double-sided nature of the puzzle) and you need to flip it all around.
Beginning is scary, but it’s also exhilarating. There are no real plans right now, so nothing I do can be wrong. I’m free to write, to explore, to be lead entirely by my imagination and see what happens.
It’s scary, it’s thrilling, and I’m so glad to be starting something new and exciting again. This is a good feeling; and I totally remember why it’s so tempting, mid-book, to start a new one :D
But despite the glamour and allure of beginnings, I know the pleasure of endings, too; I know what it’s like to stick a book out until the bitter end – and I’m excited to see what the end of Borderlands will bring, whenever that may be.
How about you guys? Do you like beginning new projects? Ever get that terrifying – oh-my-goodness-I-have-no-idea-what’s-going-to-happen – feeling? What do you do about it?
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