Writing a Book In a New Way

The book I've been working on has been coming out in a new way for me. Normally I go into a book with a rough idea of how long I want it to be and how I want it to be set up. Often this means chapter breaks come naturally or have been thought of already. For example, with TQR, I wanted there to be ten chapters and two of those epilogue and prologue, because it went well with the theme and cadence of the book. With SaS I knew that I wanted each chapter to feature a different character's point of view, with most of them being Will because she was the main character. For LaM I wanted it all to be third person omniscient with each chapter going between the two major storylines until they met up.

But with my current project chapters have yet to enter the equation. I know roughly how long it's going to be (just shy of, or about the length of, City of Bones) because of how much story I want to fit in and how long I think it's going to take. Of course this is a fluid estimate and the book may end up being longer or shorter, depending on how much time it roughly takes. However, as I began writing I just kept creating page breaks between scenes and character pov shifts. It wasn't a conscious decision it just started happening. When I realized what was happening I thought about going back and throwing in chapter breaks but I've decided to stay away from them for now. I don't need them in a rough draft and I've also found some advantages to writing this way:

1) I can write out of order. For instance I wrote a bunch of scenes that follow each other but then got stuck on one so jumped ahead four or five scenes and then went back later.

2) I can move scenes around. I realized that one character was dominating many scenes directly following each other and I wanted to include another character's narration earlier anyway, so I just switched around the scene order. It worked out nicely and didn't change the structure any great deal.

I like writing in this way but it certainly couldn't work for just any story. Like I've said before, this is my heart-story, something that has been with me a long time and something that I know very well because of how long it has been with me. Writing in this order works so well because I don't need an outline for it I can just go with it and trust the story.

Now, back to writing.

Things are looking up!

And I've been working on a new project. I'm keeping which one under wraps for a bit longer, but here's a hint to those who have been reading the blog for a while: it's the story of my heart. Okay, anyway, what I can say is that I'm tackling this story in a different way than I normally do. I'm approaching writing this book like it's my career. Because that's what I want it to be, after all, and why not treat it with the same respect as any other type of job?

I can't work a full day on my writing, I have too much going on, but I can push myself to work on it every day. Instead of saying "sit down from these hours to work on it as much as you can" I say "get this much writing done, no matter how long it takes" and that's been working for me pretty well. My goal is to have a complete complete version of the story (one I'd be happy to query an agent with) by the end of the year, which means writing 2.5k words a day. And, at least for the last two days, I've managed that without getting burned out.

Today, and the rest of the week, is going to be a test because I have to work. None of my shifts are longer than four hours this week so I'm hoping that helps keep my motivation going. It's nice to say "Can't sleep until this is done" but when I've actually had a full day that's a little harder to achieve. My fingers are crossed and my mind is set, so hopefully that is enough.

One thing I'm doing differently with this story, at least in this earliest draft, is that I'm not breaking it into chapters. I have breaks within the story, but I don't determine whether those are chapters or just regular breaks at this stage. I didn't really go into it thinking this was how I was going to do it, but it came naturally this way and there's no reason to cut it into chapters at this point so I'll keep going like this. I think either during the first editing phase, or during the second draft, I'll try to crack down on where I want the chapters to be, but I'm not too concerned.

Otherwise things have been going pretty well. I've had some dark days but I've also really worked on recovering from these in a healthy way and not letting it affect me for too long. Having a writing project helps in more ways than one, especially since it helps fill in extra time I normally have where I could feel lonely or sad.

Talk to you more about this project soon!

What now?

For the past hour and a half or so I've been having what I call a "quiet anxiety attack" because it's not as bad as they can get, and it's not completely crippling, and if you were to talk to me it would probably seem like nothing is wrong. What happened is I called work to get my schedule and they gave it to me. Nothing went wrong, I put my schedule into my calendar, and then I started having a quiet anxiety attack because immediately I went to all the ways things could go wrong.

For example: I'm not scheduled to work for the rest of the week. My thought: Does this mean the person I asked didn't see that I work this week and so told me the wrong day and now I'm going to get a call when I'm in the middle of something else and not be able to make it? And then what will happen?

It's irrational. I doubt the person misread anything. But if they did, it's at this point out of my hands; I called and got my schedule and I will be going to work for those days that I was told I was scheduled to work. Done, nothing else to do. If I get a call tomorrow I can tell them what happened and I can know it's not my fault because I have no way of knowing.

Another example: I'm schedule to go to work early and unload trucks. I haven't been schedule to do this since last summer and I don't know the etiquette. My thought: what if it isn't trucks? What if we're doing something else? What if I wear the wrong uniform? What if I get there too early.

Irrational. I keep reminding myself that I'm being irrational. Everything will work out and I have to remember that.

***

But why am I telling you? Well, I think it's time we talked about work on here because my job, a part-time retail job that I rather enjoy when it's not giving me anxiety attacks.

I know it's not a permanent job and I've long planned to leave it after December of this year because, if things work out, I'll be studying abroad and won't be able to keep it while I'm abroad (I have to work once every so many weeks to stay on the payroll). Then, next summer, I can try to get an internship in publishing. It works out perfectly! Yet even though it's not permanent, and I'm more than halfway done with it, and even though I really do love working where I work, inside it's kinda constraining.

I'm not the most people person out there and I know it. Interacting with the customers drains me and by the end of a shift I don't want to do anything. It's made me realize, more than anything else, that I can't live this sort of life and I have to be a writer. That may sound... strange? I don't know, but it may sound sorta selfish too, perhaps. But having his job has convinced me that, in the long run, I can't be happy with this life and I need to have a life where I can write and make money on that writing.

One of the goals this summer is to really stick to writing and get things done in a large enough capacity that I feel like a real writer.

***

But to be a writer I need to have something I'm working on and right now, I don't. I mean, I do, but it's not one solid project. I've been bouncing around from project to project because it's become difficult finding something that really grabs my muse and allows me to tell a story right now.

Last night and tonight I reembarked on a television idea I had and I've begun outlining. Tonight I think I'm going to finish outlining season one and work on the script of the series. Is this the most feasible writing to begin with? Absolutely not because what am I going to do with these scripts? I can't exactly sell them and get a job that way. At least, not that I know of. But it is really fun to return to this idea that I had several years ago, tighten it up, and explore the world I had in mind. If nothing else, it's a good set of writing exercises that I can enjoy doing.

***

I haven't been super active on the blog and I know that. Things are going to pick up this summer. I want to do a weekly check in if I can manage it, talk about the projects I'm working on, and give you an idea for how things have been going.

This is partly for myself and partly because I think you all might find it interesting. I've also been considering doing a monthly vlog, starting at the beginning of the month and every time I do some major writing or need to vent about progress, taking it up with you guys and then editing and posting it all early the next month. We'll see how that goes, though. I've also considered getting an instagram again to talk about writing and reading things. Again, we'll see how it goes.

I'm Stagnating

in basically everything I do. You could call it procrastination, but it's different than that. It's the feeling that I really don't have anything to work towards and that I won't achieve anything either way. It's stagnating because I can't see the future. I get little bursts of energy that will motivate me through periods of time that last from only an hour to two full weeks but then I stagnate again. Depression and anxiety and other mental and emotional health reasons surely affect it, but I don't think I should put the blame entirely on that. I think I let myself just STOP and it's started to kill some of my creative spirit and some of what makes me me.

I haven't been posting here, but I'm going to try to do that again. Though it will certainly be more tangental and just kinda on and about everything and everyone, even if it's not writing related.

With writing: TQR has been sucking something out of me. I've been working on it for too long and feeling like I'm getting nowhere and every time I sit and look at it I feel like I have to start over. That's not happening, I've decided. I don't want to start over- at least not right now- when I've put so much into it. I'm not giving up on the piece, but I'm giving myself a year, maybe more maybe less. I need to move onto more fertile ground, and I need to move onto something that feels untapped and new and limitless. Scrolling through all my ideas, all my stories, one still feels very fresh and it is nothing like TQR and that's Lamp and Mirror. So, finally, finally, I'm going to sit back and write it and we'll see where it goes.

Rough Estimate:

• Rough Draft (with a month or so for planning): April-August
• Break + Editing (aka drafts 2, 3, 4): September-February (2018)
• Break/Alpha Readers (close friends): March-April
• Second Draft (more like draft 5, really, but it's getting more of an overhaul than the others): May-August
• Break/Beta Readers (close friends+a professional+others): September-November
• Editing (aka drafts 6, 7, 8): December-April (2019)
• Break + Final Draft (including about a month for final touch-ups): May-October

I may be thinking too far ahead, but it gives me some perspective on how long this will really take and I need to let myself take this long with writing it because it's important. If it goes faster, great.

School: I'm stagnating here, too. Even now, as I type this, I should be working on homework. I have three essays, around 200 pages of reading, and notes to take, but I just don't want to. I don't see the reason, the need, to do it. I do understand why it's all important- that's not the problem, but my stagnation is preventing me from really and actually understanding the worth of these things.

Which relates to study abroad: I really want to go. I know that now. I know that I NEED to go because it will change my life. But I'm stagnating. This will change, tomorrow, because it needs to.

Why? Yesterday was not a great day. It wasn't awful but it was not good. I felt uncared-for, even as I went to ends to make sure others felt cared for and about. It's draining to not feel as if you're getting anything back from a relationship. An episode of yesterday: I don't have a roommate (well, I do now, but I don't actually know who they are)

SIDE NOTE: MY GRADES JUST CAME BACK< BUT I DON"T WANT TO LOOK???
Okay I looked, and I'm literally laughing because none of my professors turned in grade reports for midterms (they don't have to) so that's fine. If you're failing they have to let you know, so I'm clearly not failing.

because my roommate from this year is going to be living with another of our friends (which is fine and good because then things work out best for them, it was just low-key shady how they did it behind my back but that's a different story I think) and all my other friends already have roommates. Plus, as I'm studying abroad next year, I'll only be around for one ten-week term, so it's really not much time. (This is why I need to study abroad! Well, one of the reasons.) I managed to get the same suite as two of my friends (both my roommate this year and the other one, that she's rooming with) which I have mixed feelings about. I have, not necessarily in the last two weeks, but definitely this term, felt like a third wheel (they're not dating but like it still stands) when I hang out with them. Living with just them and a stranger feels... scary? But again, only ten weeks. And they were happy- and I thought they were happy for me; but it seems they were only happy for themselves. I mean, I'm happy for them (they were worried about getting two people they didn't know and now they only get one) and I'm happy for me. A few comments, though, made it clear that they weren't really aware of... me as a person as much as me as a piece, I guess. I'm tangental- and they'll look out for each other and I look out for myself.

I'm ranting and it's making me sad. But that was an episode. And surely part of it is colored through how I feel, but when I try to make it clear how I feel- When I say week's in advance that I'm super stressed about rooming next year and don't really know what to do and they get mad at me (another story) then I don't want to tell them these things anymore.

And I don't want to make them seem like bad friends. Really, they're not. I promise you, Internet, that they are really solid, really great friends and we will all stay friends for a long time and, seriously, it's not unhealthy relationships. I've been in those- I know. But right now, I'm in a place where they can't/won't reach (not just these two, but all my friends, really- different stories) and I don't want to reach from alone.

So I need to study abroad, is the bottom line.

Are you still reading this? Thank you, seriously, for sticking along I didn't really know where this was going when I started, just that I needed to let people know what was up.

Reading: This, at least, is picking up. We'll see for how long.

Summer: Holds all the potential if I can only get through this school year. Five more weeks! I know I can do it, I did it last year. Flunk day is coming up (which is both a super-stressor and also something I'm really looking forward to). I have Plans for this summer (they're not grand but they exist at least!). I got a raise (almost a whole dollar!) at work. I can do this. I know I can. I just need to stop stagnating.

And if you're still reading this: do you have any advice? How do i get out of this, dare I say, life slump? I'm sure I can google answers (and I probably will) but first-hand would be really great to hear.

That's not a good place to stop but I need to eat.

I'm Writing Again, Kinda + New Plans

I got the urge to write pretty hard not too long ago, and while I'm not ready to set aside time each day yet and dedicate myself to a project, I did give in and start writing again. Sorta.

What I did was I started fleshing out characters for a graphic novel series I want to write. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but it's called Wonderland, and it's about high schoolers who end up in this other world. Yeah, great description, I know, but I don't want to talk to much about it yet, because it's still near and dear to my heart and it actually plays with one of my favorite fiction tropes, subverting it. But again, I don't want to say exactly what that is because it's kind of a surprise twist and spoiler for the series, if I ever do get it made.

Fleshing out the characters has been a rather nice experience. In fact, while I've had really rough versions of the characters in my head for a while I never even had names written on the page, and now that I've got more than a general direction for their independent stories I'm rather pleased.

I also took time to figure out new plans for when I want to get certain projects, writing things done. For TQR I'm going to be doing a complete rewrite of it from April through August. I decided on the complete rewrite because the words I used for the first draft just aren't salvageable at this point. The overall arc of the story and the characters isn't really changing much if at all, but the language is getting a new look from the base up. Then I'll be sending it to some people to test read in September and October, so I'll take a complete break away from looking at the book during that time. Starting in November I'll be editing the whole thing again and seeing where it goes from there.

In September I'll also take the time to start planning the "companion" to TQR.

For LAM I'm going to begin the rough draft in April, but that's going to be second priority to TQR, so I expect it to take me through the remainder of the year after that. We'll see how quickly it takes me to write it, though.

For now, that's the new plan. I may get back to blogging soon, too. Hang tight, friends.

POV Edits are Done!!!

Not much else to say except that now I'm one step closer to being done with this novel.

For the rest of this week I won't really be bothering with it, I want the few days rest, but on Sunday I'm going to go through all my notes on the book and print out a physical copy to do some edits on. It should take me about two-three days to hand edit the chapters for continuity problems and with ten chapters that means I'm shooting to finish the handwritten portion by the end of January. February, then, I will focus on putting those edits onto the computer and pulling everything together in a cohesive, if still not perfect, story. And then a break as I send it out to alpha readers!

It was so nice to be able to reread the book this way, and it's actually my first time going through it all completely. I have a feeling I'll be going through it a lot during the next year.

See you all again in January!

The Writing Break I Should Have Seen Coming

With finals happening right now (I have one test tomorrow and two on Sunday) I should have been able to predict that I would be taking an (unintentional) break from writing but I didn't. It's really not a problem, but motivation has just been at a low thanks to constant studying and just being really really busy in general. I will return to writing Monday or Tuesday.

A Change of Scenery?

Not literally. And perhaps scenery isn't the best word. But I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it's got me yearning to write something epic. But I'm already writing something set in a fantasy world and I don't want to let it alone.

But what if I changed the story and made it an epic fantasy? Instead of a novella?

It could still be a fairytale, I think, so perhaps not so much of one. I'm not sure.

It's something to seriously consider, though, because there are, suddenly, a lot of ideas that would fit into this story in this new epic scenery.

So, new plan: finish editing and turning this draft from 1st person pov to 3rd. Then, rather than go through and fix all the continuity, I'm going to send it to alpha readers (though not all, just one or two I think) and see what they think of this version and also tell them what I'm thinking of for the new version, if I were to turn it to epic fantasy, or how I would fix this version and keep it fairytale. When they're finished I'd be curious to see their answers. Then, in that meantime, I think I will work on a epic fantasy version of this story, just to test out what it would look like. That's the new plan.

Let's see how it goes.

November Writing Goals

Well, I've gotten back into the swing of writing again, and that's been great. Part of this has to come with mastering my schedule, and the other part has to come from just sitting down and actually writing and realizing I still enjoy doing this. So yay! Also, it's Nano, and while I'm participating it's editing participating, which I don't consider as hard as writing an original novel during this time. But I'm still here to cheer everyone on!

My plan is to continue the "rewrite" that I'm doing for the rest of this month, which is basically just changing everything from first person point of view to third. It's a pretty easy task and as I've been going I've been taking notes on what I want to change when it comes time to editing and some of the questions I've begun to ask myself about the story are huge plot and book changers. Which is fine, I'm not panicking (lies). I have this month and next month scheduled for this, but at this pace I might actually be able to finish it up in a quarter of that time. In which case I'll start the hard copy editing process, which will be very cool to be able to do. I'll keep you updated if that does end up happening.

One more thing: I recently read On Writing, which is a phenomenal book (I strongly recommend it) and in it Stephen King says that you often stumble upon the "moral" around the time of the second draft. Well, I found it. And, let's just say, it's not what I was expecting. While writing I did see it lurking around the corners of the text, and I kind of denied it because that's not what I had set out to write and I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to write. But the book has other ideas and now I must write it. That moral is something like this:

Using original fairytales to exploit what it means to have the right to live and die by your own hand.

Huh. Not the story I thought it was at first but I'm not complaining. It also changes the "audience" I was originally intending for it to be written for. In early drafts it was for YA audiences. Then I realized it was a kind of universal adult/ya reading (like how most fantasy in the adult section can be seen this way). But now I'm thinking, hey, maybe it's something closer to New Adult and Adult than straight up YA/adult crossover. Of course, that's just some thoughts, but knowing who the audience I'm writing for is really helps the writing itself.

Well, those are my goals, and I'm so glad to be back writing again because it's been really, really wonderful.

I noticed something cool while I was editing.

And yes, I'm finally back to writing/editing! I've been copying over the words from my first draft into a new document and changing the pronouns and verbs so that it's a third person story. Which has been so nice because it's like a breath of fresh air to be writing again, you have no idea. But I noticed something cool about the way it was turning out, and I wanted to share it here.

The Original

There are monster’s in the wood. Everyone knows that.
     I stand, feet bare, on the outskirt of the forest. The grass is softest here, on the edge of civilization, and I like how it feels filling the empty space between my toes. Stepmother hovers, not far away, keeping an eye on me. I am still a little girl, and she worries I might get into trouble.
     Above, the branches stretch out to make a thin rooftop. I see a small monster crawl across a branch. It looks like a worm, but as it moves, the bark it goes over changes to blue. Now that spring is here, the woods will discover their colors again.
     I do not know where Father is. I never know where he is. The village priest tells me I should love him unconditionally, as he loves me, but I do not think he loves me. If he loved me, would he leave like he does? Stepmother is a fine person, but I’ve seen how mothers are meant to act and she doesn’t understand her role.
     “Come along, Jocelyn,” Stepmother calls, keeping her distance still, her arms out beckoning for me. I take a step away from the woods, towards her embrace, but don’t turn away from the monsters that lurk within. If you turn away, they know you are afraid.
     The sound of a horse rushing through the forest nearly startles me, but mostly excites me. I run from both Stepmother and the woods and towards the sound of a visitor. This time of the year it could be anyone.
     Stepmother calls my name again, pulls her skirts away from her ankles, and chases after me. I am not disappointed to find the visitor has come to deliver the news. He is panting and his horse’s neck is wet. Brandon, a village boy only a year older than me, has already fetched some soap to wipe the beast down. The messenger dismounts happily and leans hard against the staff he had brought strapped across his back. He has no scroll- he’s not just any messenger but a royal one, prized for his memory.
     “Is there a scribe?” he calls into the town. He has stopped his journey in the middle of Waypoint’s square, and people are starting to flood into it to hear what he says.
     An older woman hobbles over to him. It is Meredith, the seamstress’ mother, and behind her are her three beautiful grandsons. The eldest carries a table out for her, the middle one carries a chair, and the youngest, her favorite, holds a quill pen, ink, and paper like they are gold and rubies. The messenger nods his approval as her grandchildren set up her small station, off the right and in the front row, so that she may record.
     “The Castle and the Crown are proud to inform their people of a competition to begin immediately! The Queen’s Ransom is not for the faint of heart. There is a monster in the mountains, hoarding treasure in the heart of the tallest and deepest mountain, and within its trove is a magic mirror. Whoever can retrieve this mirror will receive a vial of enchanted gold that will cure any curse.
     “Anyone can begin the journey immediately, but there are three challenges any contestant much finish before they can hope to defeat the monster in the mountain. First, they must sacrifice their reflection. Second, they must break a promise. Third, they must discover the truth.
     “To begin the quest you are only allowed a knife, seven loaves of bread, and whatever clothes you can fit on your back. You must sleep outdoors, under the stars, and rise and fall with the sun. You are allowed as many companions as you want. You have exactly one week to complete the quest and return the mirror to the queen. The quest ends when the mirror is returned. No sooner.”
     Meredith finishes and looks up. The town is loud with whispers. Stepmother has caught up to me and has her hands on my shoulders, keeping me from going anywhere. I look up and catch her eye. She is worried, I think, though I do not know why.
     “We can begin immediately?” the blacksmith, George, steps forward.
     The messenger tells him that yes, indeed, he can begin immediately, but that if these things aren’t achieved, the monster in the mountain will surely destroy the man. Then the messenger dismisses himself by mounting his horse suddenly and taking off in the direction of Outpost, the only other town among the trees. Brandon was only half done cleaning the beast and he looks crestfallen at the idea of unfinished work.
     “Come along, Jocelyn,” Stepmother tugs at my shoulders and I follow her steady hands. “Help me prepare supper.”
     I do, and wonder at what someone could do with a vial of enchanted gold.

Here we have a first person present point of view that indicates things are happening the split second you are reading them on the page. I was really enamored with this idea for a while, and in this go-through of editing I'm only changing things from first person to third, so that voice remains the same, which has led to an eerie quality I like.

The New

There are monster’s in the wood. Everyone knows that.
     She stands, feet bare, on the outskirt of the forest. The grass is softest there, on the edge of civilization, and she likes how it feels filling the empty space between her toes. Stepmother hovers, not far away, keeping an eye on her. She is still a little girl, and Stepmother worries she might get into trouble.
     Above, the branches stretch out to make a thin rooftop. She sees a small monster crawl across a branch. It looks like a worm, but as it moves, the bark it goes over changes to blue. Now that spring is here, the woods will discover their colors again.
     She does not know where Father is. She never knows where he is. The village priest tells her she should love him unconditionally, as he loves her, but she does not think he loves her. If he loved her, would he leave like he does? Stepmother is a fine person, but she’s seen how mothers are meant to act and Stepmother doesn’t understand her role.
     “Come along, Jocelyn,” Stepmother calls, keeping her distance still, her arms out beckoning for the girl. She takes a step away from the woods, towards Stepmother’s embrace, but doesn’t turn away from the monsters that lurk within. If you turn away, they know you are afraid.
     The sound of a horse rushing through the forest nearly startles her, but mostly excites her. She runs from both Stepmother and the woods and towards the sound of a visitor. This time of the year it could be anyone.
     Stepmother calls her name again, pulls her skirts away from her ankles, and chases after the girl. The girl is not disappointed to find the visitor has come to deliver the news. He is panting and his horse’s neck is wet. Brandon, a village boy only a year older than her, has already fetched some soap to wipe the beast down. The messenger dismounts happily and leans hard against the staff he had brought strapped across his back. He has no scroll- he’s not just any messenger but a royal one, prized for his memory.
     “Is there a scribe?” he calls into the town. He has stopped his journey in the middle of Waypoint’s square, and people are starting to flood into it to hear what he says.
     An older woman hobbles over to him. It is Meredith, the seamstress’ mother, and behind her are her three beautiful grandsons. The eldest carries a table out for her, the middle one carries a chair, and the youngest, her favorite, holds a quill pen, ink, and paper like they are gold and rubies. The messenger nods his approval as her grandchildren set up her small station, off the right and in the front row, so that she may record.
     “The Castle and the Crown are proud to inform their people of a competition to begin immediately! The Queen’s Ransom is not for the faint of heart. There is a monster in the mountains, hoarding treasure in the heart of the tallest and deepest mountain, and within its trove is a magic mirror. Whoever can retrieve this mirror will receive a vial of enchanted gold that will cure any curse.
     “Anyone can begin the journey immediately, but there are three challenges any contestant much finish before they can hope to defeat the monster in the mountain. First, they must sacrifice their reflection. Second, they must break a promise. Third, they must discover the truth.
     “To begin the quest you are only allowed a knife, seven loaves of bread, and whatever clothes you can fit on your back. You must sleep outdoors, under the stars, and rise and fall with the sun. You are allowed as many companions as you want. You have exactly one week to complete the quest and return the mirror to the queen. The quest ends when the mirror is returned. No sooner.”
     Meredith finishes and looks up. The town is loud with whispers. Stepmother has caught up to the girl and has her hands on her shoulders, keeping the girl from going anywhere. The girl looks up and catch her eye. Stepmother is worried, she thinks, though she do not know why.
     “We can begin immediately?” the blacksmith, George, steps forward.
     The messenger tells him that yes, indeed, he can begin immediately, but that if these things aren’t achieved, the monster in the mountain will surely destroy the man. Then the messenger dismisses himself by mounting his horse suddenly and taking off in the direction of Outpost, the only other town among the trees. Brandon was only half done cleaning the beast and he looks crestfallen at the idea of unfinished work.
     “Come along, Jocelyn,” Stepmother tugs at her shoulders and she follows her steady hands. “Help me prepare supper.”
     The girl does, and wonders at what someone could do with a vial of enchanted gold.

Now, in third person, with the remnants of the voice I was using in the original passage, things come off in a sort of ethereal quality, or at least that's what I've noticed. And I kind of like it. It's not something I could tell the whole story with, I think too much would be lost, but it is something I could still employ in the story.

Since this is a world of fairytales I've wanted to include more of the fairytales in the story. There are only the two in the prologue and one in a dream sequence so far, and I think I would prefer to add more, since there are a lot more that the story could benefit from. I'm debating whether or not to just throw them in between chapters as sorts of breaks or to have the story kind of melt into them. It's something I'm going to have to play around with when I do my next round of editing before I send it out to people to look at.

*holds head in hands* It's been too long a.k.a. October Writing Goals

So, I haven't posted here in a while because I haven't done a bunch of writing in a while, but I want to pull you up to speed so real quickly:

I did reach my goal last month of finishing my rough draft of TQR so that's great! But I didn't start WaC and didn't write either of the posts I wanted to get to. Okay, that's fine I guess. I did change my goals a bit, and I talked about that at the end of last month. I'm going to spend even more time than I originally planned just working on TQR because it really needs my help which means WaC is being pushed back again.

The goals for this month:

Continue writing "around" the story. I imagine I'll be doing this for several months, but this is the month I'm choosing to focus on it.

Start rewriting the original draft.

That's it for goals. They're really minor, but things will probably be picking up again shortly.

I Finished My First Novel

I think it's going to take some time for that to actually set in. I finished. A novel. It's over. I wrote a whole story, beginning middle and end. Wow.

I'm not as excited as you might think. I have a lot more left to do. And I'm not that happy with this version of the story. So, yes, I will be hardcore editing the life out of this thing. And that DOES make me excited. I'm taking a break tomorrow from TQR, but I will be starting WaC and that's also very exciting.

TQR took me much more time than I thought it would. But I do think I've grown as a storyteller. I look forward to starting the next chapter of this journey.

Some quick stats:

129 pages double spaced

28,555 words total

That't not very many words. That's just about a novella. And, yes, this book started as a novella, but now I want it to be a novel.

So goals:

Bring it up to around 50,000 words. I don't care if it's only 40,000 but I definitely want it somewhere in that range.

Put into third person point of view.

Spend more time on secondary characters.

Describe more places and don't just have stock traveling scenes.

Do it by the end of the month.

Let's see if we can do this. (Read: nope but I can get far I think.)

hmmmm.... slacking

It's a little disheartening to realize I haven't written anything in TQR since exactly one month ago. Time to turn things around. My plan is to finish the rough draft this week and finally get around to that rewrite. Time moves so quickly!

On a side note: I also plan to finally sit down and start writing WaC tonight. I honestly couldn't be more excited it's going to be a lot of fun.

September Writing Goals

It's been a while since I last posted and that's not due to the fact that I've been writing furiously. Because I have not been. Because I have been bad and easily distracted. Sad face.

Before I get into my goals, can I bring your attention to the name of the Blog. It was previously called Fernweh, and while I still really like that word, I wasn't in love with it as the title of my blog. So, for now, it's going to be called The Motley Bird, based off of a very strange bird that appeared in my dream last night.

Onto the goals!

I want to finish up the first draft of The Queen's Ransom. I have a feeling it will only take me sitting down and pounding away at the keyboard for about three hours to finish this one up, and I'm both excited and saddened that it will be over. But we both know that it's not exactly tip-top shape, so I also want to get most of the way through editing/rewriting the book. It's going to take pretty much all my time this month, but it's something I'm super eager to start digging into.

It's also time to finally start writing Wheel and Cog! I want to lock down the history of the world in the book (it's more or less our history but with a few modifications) and then I want to get about a third of the way into the book before all is said and done this month.

Not writing related, there are a few blog posts here I finally want to get around to writing. I tend to start posts and then not finish them and publish them, and since I hate scheduling things here and like it to be "of-the-moment" posting, I don't often like to share what is in the works behind the scenes here. But, these are two posts I think are important to get out this month. One is about diversity in books and why it's important and my take on it. I have a lot of things to say and I've been debating how to say them every morning for a week. I also want to write about what books mean to me. There's a little bit of a sad story in there, but nothing too bad.

Do you remember Lamp & Mirror?

I talked a little about this story (LaM) several weeks ago. It was intended to be a stress reliever story that I slowly serialized here for everyone to read and enjoy. Well, I learned pretty quickly that the plot I had for the story was very thin and not good reading and it was hard to write so I scrapped it pretty quickly. I didn't have any plans to continue it in any regard.

But last night an old idea I had rose to the front of my mind as I fell asleep. And I realized I actually really wanted to tell this little gem still, even though I haven't thought about it in a few years. My problem with this story? I didn't have the characters for it. I knew the roles for the main characters, but I didn't actually have people willing to fill it.

And then I realized= LaM was missing plot, old idea was missing characters... would it work? So I played with the idea in my head all night and GUYS IT WORKS SO WELL. So, so well. Everything fit like a puzzle and the story blossomed from a short story/novella to a full fledged trilogy and I added two new characters that didn't even exist in my head before and it's awesome.

I normally don't give out descriptions for things before I've at least begun writing them, but I'm so excited right now I just need to share at least part of this story, so I'm going to share how all the characters connect.

Alexander (Alecks) Lamp is adopted by the Mirror family after his own parents, who have been faithful servants and guardians for the Mirrors for nearly a century, are killed unexpectedly. The Mirror's raise Alecks alongside their son, Edward (Eddie) Mirror, who is only a year younger than Alecks. One night, when the boys are nine and ten respectively, vampires (a monster everyone is aware of and is afraid of- think Dracula meets Vampire Diaries for an idea of this version of vampires) break into the house and kill nearly everyone. Alecks keeps Eddie safe during the attack, even though he takes brutal injuries himself, and they are the only two left alive in the house when Eddie's oldest sister finally arrives to save them. From that point on, Alecks promises to be Eddie's guardian and protect him from every threat.
The two are inseparable until the night, when crossing a bridge, Alecks tries to keep a drunk Eddie from walking along the edge to prove his bravery. Out of nowhere thugs arrive, completely human thugs whose only real threat is a knife. Alecks is able to take care of them easily, but not before Eddie is pushed into the river below, his body never found... by humans.
Sebastian Locke is handsome, wealthy, and arrogant- he's also a violent and ruthless vampire who finds Eddie and turns him into a vampire after keeping him in a stasis state for three years.
Meanwhile, Alecks has been miserable since that night when he seemed to lose all purpose in life. He's taken a few jobs here and there and is employed as a small-time bodyguard meant to keep vampires out of a bar when he finds a homeless girl with no memories of who she is except her name, Caragh Bronwing. He takes her to his home, forsaking his job. Charmed by her, he agrees to help her find out where she came from.
But Alecks and Caragh's journey quickly intersects with that of the city's most violent vampire and its youngest.

The trilogy is planned to take place in London, I'm thinking a version of Victorian England, but that might change (certainly not modern, and not too far in the past). I plan to start writing this after I've made some headway with Wheel and Cog, and I'm so excited.

One thing about the romance- a large part of the plot for the book is actually built around romance (but I'm not saying who's with who!) and it is going to be integral to all four of the main characters during the course of the series. While it's not necessarily the driving part of the books, this series is more of a romance than the other two projects I've been working on lately. Side note: there are no love triangles.

The Hazards of Prewriting

Two posts in one day, that's pretty crazy!

Okay, so basically I wanted to do a bunch of prewriting and preplanning for WaC so that I could avoid continuity problems like I've run into with TQR. But WaC has been in my head so long, starting to plot it down on paper has been tough. And it feels stifling. The characters in my head are alive and reducing what they have to say to a few broad strokes that is my outline is really not working out. I got the first few chapters done, but honestly it's become not just a pain but a waste since I'm overwriting when I could just be writing.

So no more plotting/outlining for this book. I know all the major parts, and I know that they have to be hit and about when in the story they need to occur, it's just the connective tissue is missing the details. I'm sure they'll come.

I look forward to finally writing WaC, but I'm also incredibly nervous and worried that it's going to be one heck of a headache. I mean, something this close to me is going to be something I need to wrestle down. Wish me luck.

XOXOX

Good books make me want to make good books

The book in particular, today, is The Raven King. I've just finished it not even ten minutes ago and I'm reeling. Reeling. I don't think I can put into words my feeling for this series. Saying I liked it isn't really right. Saying I loved it doesn't really capture what I mean to say. I can't capture what it is or what it means to me (which means the review is gonna be hell to write).

But it does inspire me to write. Not because Maggie Stiefvater is practically famous and her books do so well- no, because I want to see my stories on paper and I want other people to read my words and have emotions because of them.

It was good and now I want to write. So write I shall. The rest of the day, probably, will be dedicated to writing. So, thank you Mizz Stiefvater, for your beautiful inspiration.

Septology Project

This idea has just sort of snuck into my head and now it won't leave me alone. I haven't written a word down, but my head has just spiraled away with what this story is and where it will go. 

Here's what I know:

- Besides those four characters I outlined briefly in the earlier post, I have a bunch of spare characters floating through my head that had books/series' at one point but nothing substantial and so now they're waiting for homes and they would all fit in here pretty nicely.

- While there will be both male and female main characters, the only characters with POV points will be women. That's the plan! And that sounds kinda easy, but guys, can you think of an epic fantasy series that only relies on female narrative? I can't, at least not one of the extent to which I'm imagining for the breed of fantasy I want to write.

- It's going to be a cross between Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Throne of Glass. Okay I hate when publishers describe things like this, but those are the big influences on the series right now. It's not really a cross between any of those things but it's also definitely heavily influenced by those three.

- It's as much sci-fi as it is epic fantasy. So it's epic sci-fi (I guess??). Basically, there are at least four planets and each of them is a fantasy world (along the lines of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings so like "epic" fantasy worlds) and they do communicate with each other. There will be a way for cross-planet travel. I'm thinking maybe ships (but not the rocket kind, the ocean kind except in space!)

- It's going to be massive. Like the size of Game of Thrones (I keep tossing that one around, huh? yeah, I was talking about it with someone and it spurred some ideas into action). Each book will be probably be around 300k a piece if not more. The store is huge because there are at least four planets to tackle.

- The plot is a huge work in progress, but I know basic character arcs and I know where I want the first book (and the second) to end for many of the characters.

When will I have time to work on it? Well, it will be reward, I guess. When I reach a certain amount of writing in my main project I'll let myself dabble with these books and these characters. I don't want to go full steam ahead, though, because I don't want to dedicate all my time to the series quite yet. I have so many ideas clamoring around my head and only so much time. I want this series on paper, but it's going to be slow going.

Also, regarding the all-female narrative for this epic sci-fi series, I really love this idea. BAMF women are my thing. But there are a lot of interesting men in the series and I wouldn't balk at writing short stories or alternate scenes from their point of view that wouldn't be part of the main book.

Well, that's what I've got so far for Septology Project.

An idea and where I'm at

I've been posting a lot lately, this is strange! Strange in a good way. I hope I'm not too annoying, haha!

So, you may have noticed that TQR is at 70% now. Yay! I'm almost done and that's so awesome. I'm still behind, but not by as much, and writing, once I sit down and start doing it, has been really easy lately. No idea why but the words have just started to flow.

In my original plan I was just going to do some light edits, on a hardcopy, before sending it off to some friends to read, but because of all the continuity issues and the fact that I want to completely change the POV, I think I'm going to be doing some major rewriting instead of the light edits. It'll be a bit of a time crunch, but it's not going to involve me coming up with a story, just making the story better with clearer details and patching up all the major issues.

And recently I've just had another idea. It doesn't have an exact plot, yet, but it has a shape and it has at least five solid characters, that would all be viewpoint characters. I'm not sure if it's going to be YA or NA but it will hover somewhere around there. I almost want it to be NA so that I can play around with things in ways I can't with YA. I do know that right now it looks like there will be seven books.

I can't say much about it, but I really love it so far (at least in my head) and it's such a wide world I think I could have fun there. When I have spare time between writing TQR and starting back up on my prewrites for WaC I want to work on this one. For the sake of things let's just call it Septology Project.

Here's a little peak at the characters (each line is a character and I have them each based around the idea of duality):

The Soldier/The Coward
The Lover/The Thief
The Hero/The Villain
The Healer/The Assassin
The Queen/The Prisoner

What do you think?

A little bit of writing inspiration and some goals

I am ten days behind my schedule for when I wanted certain things done. Which wouldn't make me so frustrated except that I was just being lazy and had already elongated my schedule quite a bit to make room for these sorts of things. So I thought I'd put some goals out on here that would really motivate me since you guys are reading it and judging me.

August 11
TQR for half hour
August 12
TQR for half hour
August 13
TQR for 45 mins        
edit for 15 mins          Reward: giant cookie slice from pie five
August 14
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins
August 15
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour
August 16
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour          Reward: try new "coffee bar" place
August 17
TQR for half hour
August 18
TQR for half hour
August 19
TQR for an hour
edit for half hour          Reward: treat myself to a cookie dough shake from Sonic
August 20
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins
August 21
TQR for 45 mins
edit for 15 mins          Reward: get small sketchbook for school

Big Rewards:
Finishing Chapter Six  Buy the first book in the Codex Alera series
Finishing Chapter Seven  Buy new pens

***Can you tell that food, books, and art motivate me? Haha I hope this works I really do. If I fuck up and don't meet a goal I will be commenting below that I have messed up and, so, that's how you'll know I guess.***