So of course I started having ideas about how to fix the second part of Amulet I after I went to bed, after Nanowrimo was over...
1. The Duchenes move in.
2. Moraina sets up her hut at the edge of the encampment, by the river, because she doesn't want to live in the fort.
3. Moraina helps out the spearhunter that fell into the ravine right before a hurricane.
4. The leader of the Eenin of Branitel visit Moraina and they become friends.
5. The Eenin ask Moraina what the story is with the Duchenes. Moraina tells them.
6. The Eenin help Edward because they like Moraina, and because she'd helped them out with their spearhunter.
That would make things a ton simpler than trying to come up with whole new complicated things for the entire universe to do. :p And what's even better, I've already written #1-4. I don't know why I didn't want to make Moraina a more central part of the story before, but really, why wouldn't she be? The Eenin are matriarchal, of course they'd want to talk to her over talking to the Duchenes, plus she's descended from Drunin, and they can compare notes about their life experiences as nin people. It'll also make the Duchenes super uncomfortable to have to go through her to talk to the Eenin, which can get nicely dramatic. :)
2014/12/01
2014/11/30
Thus endeth 2014 Nanowrimo
Final wordcount: 51317.
I wrote about 1300 words while at the last official write-in of the month, but mostly I was just there to give other people moral support and was a total slacker about doing any of my own writing.
All of the new words were in Birthright. I wrote a scene where Allen tells Nathaniel about seeing the phoenix, and had to reread chunks of Triangle I to figure out what he would've known about and when. I don't think I quite have that part down yet. There'll have to be some revision later for the parts where he's talking to Janis and Elena, I think (from yesterday's words).
I guess now that the month is done, I should give it a break for a week, then go into revision mode. There might be more unofficial write-ins if anyone besides me is interested. Those turn out to be pretty helpful actually for keeping me focused. December will probably turn out to be a bad time to do more of them overall, but maybe in January I'll see who's still hanging around on the Nano forum....
I wrote about 1300 words while at the last official write-in of the month, but mostly I was just there to give other people moral support and was a total slacker about doing any of my own writing.
All of the new words were in Birthright. I wrote a scene where Allen tells Nathaniel about seeing the phoenix, and had to reread chunks of Triangle I to figure out what he would've known about and when. I don't think I quite have that part down yet. There'll have to be some revision later for the parts where he's talking to Janis and Elena, I think (from yesterday's words).
I guess now that the month is done, I should give it a break for a week, then go into revision mode. There might be more unofficial write-ins if anyone besides me is interested. Those turn out to be pretty helpful actually for keeping me focused. December will probably turn out to be a bad time to do more of them overall, but maybe in January I'll see who's still hanging around on the Nano forum....
50,008 at the bottom of the 29th
50,008 is what the official validator says. 49,984 is what Scrivener says, and I have 635 discard words, so I figure tomorrow I should write 700 more words to make it inarguable.
Today's total wordcount was 5888, which makes it the highest wordcount in one day (of Nanowrimo) ever (not counting 2009 or 2010, when I apparently forgot to take detailed notes (or, alternately, I have it in a separate file somewhere that I'm too lazy to look for right now)).
Final breakdown was:
Amulet I - 4214
Triangle I - 2234
Triangle II - 19,092
Birthright - 16,585
Myan - 7224
I never did get to Temple I guess, or Amulet II. But those were the first two I did (2004, 2005) and they're kind of cringe-inducing.
I don't really have any profound thoughts about the month at the moment. It was a long slog of mostly chipping away at things. There wasn't a single point of epic meltdown, but there were times when I flaked out and went all neurotic in hopefully small bursts. I have noticed that I write dialogue very fast now; the characters and basic storyline are developed enough that I can just put two or more of them in a scene together and then just write down whatever they say to each other. Descriptive stuff is a lot slower.
Also, large chunks of the end of Birthright consists of characters telling each other about everything they'd done in the story up to that point, in great detail. Some of it is important, some of it might be too much rehash.
I did put the sinister claw into Myan. It added a lot of words, but I'm not sure what story it's part of. It might be the precursor to the Janis/Arthur storyline about the unravelling of reality, that happens after the end of Myan. Not sure if I'm ready to write that one yet; it's kind of in the range of horror, and I'm not so sure I want to write horror while sitting around at home by myself, and there's probably only so many write-ins I can get Brent to agree to on a weekly basis... oh well, before I get too far into that, I need to do heavy revision for everything I've already written in the rest of the series.
One other thought. I have officially passed the milestone where I can now set up my workspace in the middle of a construction zone. Some of the write-ins this month were in super busy and noisy places, with crying babies and etc., and as long as I know what I'm doing, it doesn't slow me down at all.
Today's total wordcount was 5888, which makes it the highest wordcount in one day (of Nanowrimo) ever (not counting 2009 or 2010, when I apparently forgot to take detailed notes (or, alternately, I have it in a separate file somewhere that I'm too lazy to look for right now)).
Final breakdown was:
Amulet I - 4214
Triangle I - 2234
Triangle II - 19,092
Birthright - 16,585
Myan - 7224
I never did get to Temple I guess, or Amulet II. But those were the first two I did (2004, 2005) and they're kind of cringe-inducing.
I don't really have any profound thoughts about the month at the moment. It was a long slog of mostly chipping away at things. There wasn't a single point of epic meltdown, but there were times when I flaked out and went all neurotic in hopefully small bursts. I have noticed that I write dialogue very fast now; the characters and basic storyline are developed enough that I can just put two or more of them in a scene together and then just write down whatever they say to each other. Descriptive stuff is a lot slower.
Also, large chunks of the end of Birthright consists of characters telling each other about everything they'd done in the story up to that point, in great detail. Some of it is important, some of it might be too much rehash.
I did put the sinister claw into Myan. It added a lot of words, but I'm not sure what story it's part of. It might be the precursor to the Janis/Arthur storyline about the unravelling of reality, that happens after the end of Myan. Not sure if I'm ready to write that one yet; it's kind of in the range of horror, and I'm not so sure I want to write horror while sitting around at home by myself, and there's probably only so many write-ins I can get Brent to agree to on a weekly basis... oh well, before I get too far into that, I need to do heavy revision for everything I've already written in the rest of the series.
One other thought. I have officially passed the milestone where I can now set up my workspace in the middle of a construction zone. Some of the write-ins this month were in super busy and noisy places, with crying babies and etc., and as long as I know what I'm doing, it doesn't slow me down at all.
2014/11/26
Things are going too slow ...
35,795 words in the middle of the 26th.
My wordcount progress has slowed to a crawl. Lots of stuff going on in Real Life getting in the way I guess. There's only a few days left, and I have to somehow write at least 3k words per day. I hope I make it. It would kind of suck if it's the first time I don't (not counting last year).
Most of the newest words have been for Birthright. I've been adding scenes into the mobsters part of the storyline, and trying to come up with plausible Belgians. They're supposed to steal the box and this somehow leads to their downfall in the story. They've stolen the box, but not for any good reason, and I'm not really sure what to do to them next. Meanwhile, in another part of the storyline, I wrote a couple more scenes relating to the explosion of the cargo ship, and then there's going to be a second banquet at Mindy's where she yells at everyone involved. There's a total of 7939 words for Birthright now.
I also need to somehow add mention of the spirit wolves to Triangle II and Amulet II. They were there, and there needs to be some background development since they were sparked to life in Triangle I and there's basically nothing about them after that until they die in Temple.
I also kind of want to dump the whole Sundering idea. But then I'm back at the original problem with the second part of Amulet I - why would the Eenin help the Duchenes.
I think for now, I'm going to see if I can put some of the Mort Lewis / Demon conversations on stage, see how many words that turns into. Then, I'm kind of tempted to put that claw from the Dark Ages game into the southwest part of the plain - the one that pierces through every layer of reality. It would make the most sense for it to have appeared after Nathaniel and the Demon battle each other. The fun part is, that part of the plain is also where Lady Valdren's lair is. Of course, she's been making Zerg since she moved in, so maybe it would make sense for her to be a little bit evil.
Oh well, off to write some words while I'm at an actual write-in (though it's a small one with just Brent).
My wordcount progress has slowed to a crawl. Lots of stuff going on in Real Life getting in the way I guess. There's only a few days left, and I have to somehow write at least 3k words per day. I hope I make it. It would kind of suck if it's the first time I don't (not counting last year).
Most of the newest words have been for Birthright. I've been adding scenes into the mobsters part of the storyline, and trying to come up with plausible Belgians. They're supposed to steal the box and this somehow leads to their downfall in the story. They've stolen the box, but not for any good reason, and I'm not really sure what to do to them next. Meanwhile, in another part of the storyline, I wrote a couple more scenes relating to the explosion of the cargo ship, and then there's going to be a second banquet at Mindy's where she yells at everyone involved. There's a total of 7939 words for Birthright now.
I also need to somehow add mention of the spirit wolves to Triangle II and Amulet II. They were there, and there needs to be some background development since they were sparked to life in Triangle I and there's basically nothing about them after that until they die in Temple.
I also kind of want to dump the whole Sundering idea. But then I'm back at the original problem with the second part of Amulet I - why would the Eenin help the Duchenes.
I think for now, I'm going to see if I can put some of the Mort Lewis / Demon conversations on stage, see how many words that turns into. Then, I'm kind of tempted to put that claw from the Dark Ages game into the southwest part of the plain - the one that pierces through every layer of reality. It would make the most sense for it to have appeared after Nathaniel and the Demon battle each other. The fun part is, that part of the plain is also where Lady Valdren's lair is. Of course, she's been making Zerg since she moved in, so maybe it would make sense for her to be a little bit evil.
Oh well, off to write some words while I'm at an actual write-in (though it's a small one with just Brent).
2014/11/21
General updates
I'm at 31,032 words near the bottom of the 21st. I'm a bit behind, but hopefully will manage to catch up over the weekend, assuming I can come up with things to write about. I'm kind of stalled out on just about everything at this point.
Amulet I - I caved and wrote down the entire backstory for the Demon part of the storyline, beginning with when Allen's mage circle summoned him in the first place, and stopping when they were in Aunlania. Amazingly, I'd never written any of this down anywhere before, other than bits and pieces in Light's Spiral into Blackness (an oWoD Dark Ages game I ran on RPoL). That got me 610 words. I suppose I should continue it in backstory mode to explain what the Sundering is, since at this point I have no idea how to tell that part of the story. This is what first drafts are for for most people, aren't they? To ramble on endlessly about backstory and info dump until I figure out what the info actually is?
As for James, I get the impression that the next scene to write is going to be set far in the future from the first scene, and it'll involve Charles coming home, and I won't know what goes into it until after I find out what happens with Charles and Felna.
Triangle II - well, I got past the part where Rebecca tries to eat Janis. There are now about 2600 words to a set of scenes that don't seem to have any purpose. And now I'm back to where I was before, with no idea where to go next.
Amulet II - I opened it and looked. I think what I'm going to end up doing is keep the main plotline about the Glorian artwork, the university vs. Mindy's farm, etc. and dump most of the other bits about land disputes. The land dispute parts were boring to write the first time, and as they say, the readers always can tell when the author is bored, so I might as well just dump it.
That means heavy revision moreso than adding new words. I'm not even sure how I'd continue from where I left off - which was, of course, why I probably stopped in the first place.
Temple - I suspect that I'm going to have to start working on this over the weekend. I need 9000 new words by the end. Probably won't make it, but it works better to aim high.
Myan - well, I have about 3000 words for the zombies demolishing Myan, then going to Fortress Launne, and attacking Lady Valdren's haven and the university. I stopped when I got the parts where I have to figure out who wins and who's going to be where to oppose them.
Amulet I - I caved and wrote down the entire backstory for the Demon part of the storyline, beginning with when Allen's mage circle summoned him in the first place, and stopping when they were in Aunlania. Amazingly, I'd never written any of this down anywhere before, other than bits and pieces in Light's Spiral into Blackness (an oWoD Dark Ages game I ran on RPoL). That got me 610 words. I suppose I should continue it in backstory mode to explain what the Sundering is, since at this point I have no idea how to tell that part of the story. This is what first drafts are for for most people, aren't they? To ramble on endlessly about backstory and info dump until I figure out what the info actually is?
As for James, I get the impression that the next scene to write is going to be set far in the future from the first scene, and it'll involve Charles coming home, and I won't know what goes into it until after I find out what happens with Charles and Felna.
Triangle II - well, I got past the part where Rebecca tries to eat Janis. There are now about 2600 words to a set of scenes that don't seem to have any purpose. And now I'm back to where I was before, with no idea where to go next.
Amulet II - I opened it and looked. I think what I'm going to end up doing is keep the main plotline about the Glorian artwork, the university vs. Mindy's farm, etc. and dump most of the other bits about land disputes. The land dispute parts were boring to write the first time, and as they say, the readers always can tell when the author is bored, so I might as well just dump it.
That means heavy revision moreso than adding new words. I'm not even sure how I'd continue from where I left off - which was, of course, why I probably stopped in the first place.
Temple - I suspect that I'm going to have to start working on this over the weekend. I need 9000 new words by the end. Probably won't make it, but it works better to aim high.
Myan - well, I have about 3000 words for the zombies demolishing Myan, then going to Fortress Launne, and attacking Lady Valdren's haven and the university. I stopped when I got the parts where I have to figure out who wins and who's going to be where to oppose them.
2014/11/16
Passed 25k Today
Well, the theme of this whole Nanowrimo seems to be to do lots and lots of beginnings, and then stall out when I get to the part where plot needs to appear, and then move on to something else instead of trying to push through. So far I've done:
Amulet I - I wrote about 2200 words of James going back to the Duchene estate in Lagarnica, and meeting his current wife and new brother William. I'm not really sure where to go from there at this point. The new wife wants to kill James off so that William will inherit the estate. But I'm not sure if I'm all that excited about that storyline, not enough to actually write it.
Triangle I - I haven't done anything with this since the first day. 2200 words about Frank getting installed into his new body. It'll get broken up into individual scenes and put into appropriate places in the rest of the story later.
Triangle II - I have the most words on this one so far. 17.5k following what happens to Thomas in Jacob's house, getting the cure done, and then they and Josephine went off to Wild-hunt foodbeasts under the full moon. Meanwhile, Janis has a bunch more conversations with her grandmother. It stalled out where Janis was headed to talk to the city Eenin. She ran into Rebecca, who wants to eat her. Unfortunately, I'm not actually sure how exactly the protection on Janis works, because, once again, I need to figure out what the heck Aliacorba and Iorli agreed to, and it's stuck until I do. It has occurred to me, though, that Aliacorba would've had to give Iorli something in exchange during the pact, and I don't really know what that could be.
Amulet II - so far I haven't even opened this one. It's the farthest from my mind at the moment.
Temple - nothing on this one yet either. I'm assuming that this is going to be a huge project, and might be procrastinating starting on it until I've run out of all other, smaller things in the series to work on. This is probably going to be soon though, if I continue to be stuck on all the stuff I've already worked on.
Birthright - this was where I focused today. I wrote 3300 words covering what happens after they open the magic box. They ended up on the plain with the lamp post and met Arthur Glorian, and had a lot to say to each other. Then I tried to write about what happened after that scene, and I'm not actually sure what needs to happen next, without doing a lot of rereading of past material.
Myan - 1100 words so far. I started writing the attack on Myan from one of the zombies' point of view. They went through the center of the city, and then to Fortress Launne, and now they're about to attack the anchorpoints of Nathaniel's spell. The zombie that I'm following is headed over to the old art museum. Since zombies don't do a whole lot of thinking, or observing, of basically anything, I can almost freewrite what happens. Basically I'm just trying to get an idea of what actually happens, and I'll probably have to revise most of it later when I redo it from the point of view of actual characters. Once I figure out which characters that'll be.
Amulet I - I wrote about 2200 words of James going back to the Duchene estate in Lagarnica, and meeting his current wife and new brother William. I'm not really sure where to go from there at this point. The new wife wants to kill James off so that William will inherit the estate. But I'm not sure if I'm all that excited about that storyline, not enough to actually write it.
Triangle I - I haven't done anything with this since the first day. 2200 words about Frank getting installed into his new body. It'll get broken up into individual scenes and put into appropriate places in the rest of the story later.
Triangle II - I have the most words on this one so far. 17.5k following what happens to Thomas in Jacob's house, getting the cure done, and then they and Josephine went off to Wild-hunt foodbeasts under the full moon. Meanwhile, Janis has a bunch more conversations with her grandmother. It stalled out where Janis was headed to talk to the city Eenin. She ran into Rebecca, who wants to eat her. Unfortunately, I'm not actually sure how exactly the protection on Janis works, because, once again, I need to figure out what the heck Aliacorba and Iorli agreed to, and it's stuck until I do. It has occurred to me, though, that Aliacorba would've had to give Iorli something in exchange during the pact, and I don't really know what that could be.
Amulet II - so far I haven't even opened this one. It's the farthest from my mind at the moment.
Temple - nothing on this one yet either. I'm assuming that this is going to be a huge project, and might be procrastinating starting on it until I've run out of all other, smaller things in the series to work on. This is probably going to be soon though, if I continue to be stuck on all the stuff I've already worked on.
Birthright - this was where I focused today. I wrote 3300 words covering what happens after they open the magic box. They ended up on the plain with the lamp post and met Arthur Glorian, and had a lot to say to each other. Then I tried to write about what happened after that scene, and I'm not actually sure what needs to happen next, without doing a lot of rereading of past material.
Myan - 1100 words so far. I started writing the attack on Myan from one of the zombies' point of view. They went through the center of the city, and then to Fortress Launne, and now they're about to attack the anchorpoints of Nathaniel's spell. The zombie that I'm following is headed over to the old art museum. Since zombies don't do a whole lot of thinking, or observing, of basically anything, I can almost freewrite what happens. Basically I'm just trying to get an idea of what actually happens, and I'll probably have to revise most of it later when I redo it from the point of view of actual characters. Once I figure out which characters that'll be.
2014/11/12
Top of Day 12
17,937 words.
I'm basically stuck pretty good on Triangle II at the moment. Things have reached the point where before anything else can advance, Janis needs to decide that she wants to open a history/culture center. So far that thought has not occurred to her. She needs to go visit the city Eenin again to find out that they could really benefit from such a center. And that it would help the outlanders understand the forest Eenin better also, instead of being mired in all the misconceptions that they have about the native folk. Especially since the city Eenin don't, themselves, have a good grasp on their own heritage.
Unfortunately, that means I have to invent the city Eenin. Or re-invent them, rather. I had stuff from 2006, and maybe I can even figure out a way to use some of it, because there were some compelling scenes out of it. The whole context for their existence has shifted a lot, though. And now I'm kind of stuck on how to go about it.
On the other hand, while I was digging around in my notes from over a decade ago, back when this was still a WoD setting, to try to find the original inspiration behind why Janis wants to open the culture/history center (there basically wasn't anything specific), I stumbled across notes for the Myan end of the storyline. And now I kind of want to go work on that instead.
I wrote in this blog back then (2009) that the biggest problem was a lack of viewpoint characters. At this point I've decided that those are going to be Suunja Henderson and Martha Bernice Carlson to start with. That's going to be revision work though, not new work. What I need to write is the actual battles that destroy the city (or cities).
It occurs to me that it might actually work best to write that from the viewpoint of one of the zombies. Or, by extension, from the viewpoint of the Demon.
So far the Demon has had no screentime at all, no character development, nothing but a name. His role for most of the series is to be asleep. But I need to write him anyway because he's going to be in the third part of Amulet I. So why not get some glimpses into what he's like, what his motivations are, etc. as filtered through the eyes of a zombie?
I need 3000 words today. I think that's what I'm going to try next.
I'm basically stuck pretty good on Triangle II at the moment. Things have reached the point where before anything else can advance, Janis needs to decide that she wants to open a history/culture center. So far that thought has not occurred to her. She needs to go visit the city Eenin again to find out that they could really benefit from such a center. And that it would help the outlanders understand the forest Eenin better also, instead of being mired in all the misconceptions that they have about the native folk. Especially since the city Eenin don't, themselves, have a good grasp on their own heritage.
Unfortunately, that means I have to invent the city Eenin. Or re-invent them, rather. I had stuff from 2006, and maybe I can even figure out a way to use some of it, because there were some compelling scenes out of it. The whole context for their existence has shifted a lot, though. And now I'm kind of stuck on how to go about it.
On the other hand, while I was digging around in my notes from over a decade ago, back when this was still a WoD setting, to try to find the original inspiration behind why Janis wants to open the culture/history center (there basically wasn't anything specific), I stumbled across notes for the Myan end of the storyline. And now I kind of want to go work on that instead.
I wrote in this blog back then (2009) that the biggest problem was a lack of viewpoint characters. At this point I've decided that those are going to be Suunja Henderson and Martha Bernice Carlson to start with. That's going to be revision work though, not new work. What I need to write is the actual battles that destroy the city (or cities).
It occurs to me that it might actually work best to write that from the viewpoint of one of the zombies. Or, by extension, from the viewpoint of the Demon.
So far the Demon has had no screentime at all, no character development, nothing but a name. His role for most of the series is to be asleep. But I need to write him anyway because he's going to be in the third part of Amulet I. So why not get some glimpses into what he's like, what his motivations are, etc. as filtered through the eyes of a zombie?
I need 3000 words today. I think that's what I'm going to try next.
2014/11/09
Late into Day 9
15,679 words so far. Most of them are in Triangle II.
I seem to be seriously stuck at the moment. Basically all of the plague parts of the story are done, and Jacob now knows that Janis and Thomas are related to each other in some way, and that she should stop trying to find him. He's still waiting for Thomas to try to escape from his house, which hasn't happened yet, because at the moment Thomas is set up pretty well there - he has standing social agreements with Asher Veren and Karai'nown, namely to teach them what he knows about the swamp plants, and he only just finished getting the age reversal ritual to Karai'nown. He has as much garden space as he needs, he was able to build himself a shed, etc. Basically he has a pretty good home and there's not really any good reason to want to leave it behind, other than that he's not allowed to go anywhere else without Jacob.
The biggest piece still missing from the story is that Janis needs to spend more time talking to the city Eenin, so that she can eventually have the brilliant idea to build a cultural center so that they can learn about their own culture and heritage without having to go all the way to the forest. I have no idea how to get this started or where it fits into the overall timeline. I tried rereading what I wrote in 2006 about it, but it's so dramatically overwrought and filled with parts that I can't use, that there's not really an obvious way to continue from it.
I suppose I could just skip ahead to where she already has the idea and is pitching it to Collins.
Or maybe I should look at other parts of the timeline for a while.
Hmm.
I seem to be seriously stuck at the moment. Basically all of the plague parts of the story are done, and Jacob now knows that Janis and Thomas are related to each other in some way, and that she should stop trying to find him. He's still waiting for Thomas to try to escape from his house, which hasn't happened yet, because at the moment Thomas is set up pretty well there - he has standing social agreements with Asher Veren and Karai'nown, namely to teach them what he knows about the swamp plants, and he only just finished getting the age reversal ritual to Karai'nown. He has as much garden space as he needs, he was able to build himself a shed, etc. Basically he has a pretty good home and there's not really any good reason to want to leave it behind, other than that he's not allowed to go anywhere else without Jacob.
The biggest piece still missing from the story is that Janis needs to spend more time talking to the city Eenin, so that she can eventually have the brilliant idea to build a cultural center so that they can learn about their own culture and heritage without having to go all the way to the forest. I have no idea how to get this started or where it fits into the overall timeline. I tried rereading what I wrote in 2006 about it, but it's so dramatically overwrought and filled with parts that I can't use, that there's not really an obvious way to continue from it.
I suppose I could just skip ahead to where she already has the idea and is pitching it to Collins.
Or maybe I should look at other parts of the timeline for a while.
Hmm.
2014/11/04
End of Day 4 on Nanowrimo 2014
Well, I seem to be at a stall point. That means it's time to update ye olde blog.
On Day 1, I wrote 2,374 words toward Triangle I. Basically I wrote out all the parts about Frank getting installed into his new body. That's pretty much all I had planned for Triangle I.
Then I started working on Triangle II. So far, there's been a scene where Jacob and Janis talk to each other as college professor and student, and he doesn't know who she is yet. He's assigned for his mentee, Mark, to accompany Janis on her next trip to visit the Eenin. That's actually the next thing I need to write - Janis showing Mark around Branitel before leaving him there (because he's not allowed to go farther than that) while she visits her grandmother to tell her what happened with Aliacorba.
Meanwhile, Thomas is at Jacob's house, plugging away at making a cure. He's set up his garden again, built a shed, and has just finished sending a sample plus instructions to the king (via Jacob). I'll need to add in later that he should've sent in some of the ingredients also. I haven't decided if I need a scene where Jacob talks to Henry, or if that would just go about completely uneventfully with nothing new introduced. I might try to write it to find out later.
At the moment, Thomas is in the garden talking to Asher Veren and a life shaman from the forest. That scene is kind of stuck at the moment. So I'll probably start tomorrow with Janis.
5535 total words so far.
My original plan was to do 4000 words per day that I don't have anything else to do (weekends, Thanksgiving) and 2000 words per Wednesday, and not plan anything for M, T, R, or F due to work. So far this isn't going according to plan. I didn't write nearly enough over the weekend, partly because I ended up doing a lot more socializing than I really should've - two write-ins where one was the kickoff meet and I wrote 87 words for the discard pile, and the other I managed about half normal speed. Hopefully the rest of the write-ins will be more about writing and less about talking, so that I get stuff done. And tomorrow (a Wed) if I focus, I should be able to knock out 2000 words in the morning before I have to attend a work-related webinar in the afternoon. That would only leave me about 4k words behind. :p
On Day 1, I wrote 2,374 words toward Triangle I. Basically I wrote out all the parts about Frank getting installed into his new body. That's pretty much all I had planned for Triangle I.
Then I started working on Triangle II. So far, there's been a scene where Jacob and Janis talk to each other as college professor and student, and he doesn't know who she is yet. He's assigned for his mentee, Mark, to accompany Janis on her next trip to visit the Eenin. That's actually the next thing I need to write - Janis showing Mark around Branitel before leaving him there (because he's not allowed to go farther than that) while she visits her grandmother to tell her what happened with Aliacorba.
Meanwhile, Thomas is at Jacob's house, plugging away at making a cure. He's set up his garden again, built a shed, and has just finished sending a sample plus instructions to the king (via Jacob). I'll need to add in later that he should've sent in some of the ingredients also. I haven't decided if I need a scene where Jacob talks to Henry, or if that would just go about completely uneventfully with nothing new introduced. I might try to write it to find out later.
At the moment, Thomas is in the garden talking to Asher Veren and a life shaman from the forest. That scene is kind of stuck at the moment. So I'll probably start tomorrow with Janis.
5535 total words so far.
My original plan was to do 4000 words per day that I don't have anything else to do (weekends, Thanksgiving) and 2000 words per Wednesday, and not plan anything for M, T, R, or F due to work. So far this isn't going according to plan. I didn't write nearly enough over the weekend, partly because I ended up doing a lot more socializing than I really should've - two write-ins where one was the kickoff meet and I wrote 87 words for the discard pile, and the other I managed about half normal speed. Hopefully the rest of the write-ins will be more about writing and less about talking, so that I get stuff done. And tomorrow (a Wed) if I focus, I should be able to knock out 2000 words in the morning before I have to attend a work-related webinar in the afternoon. That would only leave me about 4k words behind. :p
2014/10/14
Gearing up for Nanowrimo 2014
Just over two weeks out at this point. I'm planning to do Fortress Launne: Second Half of Everything where basically I write all the parts that I never got to the first time around.
I haven't actually looked at anything writing-related since August. I don't plan to look now, either, since I've got an apartment move to get through first. In the last week of October though, I'll open up the Scrivener file again and figure out the details of what I'm doing.
Off the top of my head at the moment though:
1. Amulet I - basically I still need to write the third part of the three-part story. I have nothing at all so far. The key plot points that need to happen will be:
2. Triangle I - there isn't really anything in this one that I can think of that still needs to be written from nothing. I've decided that Antoine was basically just following orders and the established protocol when he was sent to the area to scout it out and set up the chantry. Part of the package deal is to set up some in's with the local political powers. That's all that the poisoning of Frank was about - the expectation was that Henry would approach Antoine as the only Tainted mage in the area to ask for help, because that's what the mages are known to be good for, and therefore end up in Antoine's debt. Only, the Stranahans end up talking to the natives and then Nathaniel instead, so the ploy didn't really work. Then, beyond that, Antoine is primarily a weather mage, so his other role is to fight off the hurricane (and make the chantry at the same time) (and also Nathaniel plants his anchor at the same time).
All of that would be things to fix during revisions though, not new material, so I don't have anything planned to work on during November.
And somewhere I'll need to work in a mention of when and how the pearl got dug up from the Hall of Trees, since it was no longer there by the time Janis went to visit. I'm kind of thinking that the nearness of the phoenix might've had something to do with it, like they called to each other.
3. Triangle II - the back half of the story is what happens after Janis loses Thomas. Jacob is going to be a fairly important viewpoint character. He already knows Janis as one of the students, though she's not in the sciences. She's going to be fairly distraught over Thomas's disappearance. Jacob will figure out who she is. Meanwhile, Thomas will carry out making the cure as the king ordered, and then try to escape. Jacob, not being an idiot and having raised 4 kids, is already prepared for that, what with stout fences, bird spies, and Josephine assigned to lurk the perimeter. It's kind of open-ended from there, but eventually it's supposed to lead to Jacob financing the culture center that Janis wants to build, and then Thomas discovering that Jacob financed it. I also have some preliminary thoughts about how Mark is getting thrown in; he's also a university student, and maybe he IS in the sciences, and Jacob assigns him to do his thesis work as an interdisciplinary project with Janis's thesis work.
This part will be glorious, I can feel it. :)
4. Amulet II - well, where I left off with this was, the university tried and failed to attack the farm, and now Antoine and Adrien have to somehow be run out of town. A return show of force from Mindy isn't going to do the trick - there's no way it would end well for Mindy if she attacked the university. However: one of the quirks that Antoine has is that he calls himself a lord, even though he actually isn't one and never has been. He just wants the basic level of respect that comes with it. So, Mindy can do some digging and find out that he's not actually a lord, and have this info revealed to the local nobility at an inconvenient time. And then the mage council will decide it's simplest to reassign Antoine to somewhere else.
5. Temple - my main plan here is to rewrite the whole thing from the beginning, as that would be faster and simpler than trying to edit from what I already have. There are a few scenes here and there that I'll keep from 2004 but not many. It should go faster the second time around, because I've already got the notes and detailed timeline that I worked out while writing it the first time.
6. Birthright - I think there's a few more mobster scenes I need to do to finish off that section of the story. Then, I really need to figure out what happens after Jalai opens the magic box. That's where I stopped before. Mid-scene, Jalai opens the box ... and then, "the end."
I think all I've decided so far is that Jalai ends up with the bird, Mindy ends up with the dragon, Janis gets the pearl, and Grandmother gets the box (which she will then have to pass to Uncle's daughter instead). I'd like for something a bit more unified to happen than that though, rising from the box as a whole. Maybe Arthur will make an appearance while they're on the plain with the lightpost, since the original point was to make a clandestine rendezvous for him and the other guy's wife.
7. Myan - The zombies are going to finally attack, and then the whole thing will move forward from that point. Myan gets destroyed, the zombies march on to Fortress Launne and try to destroy the three anchors, forces at Fortress Launne will oppose them. Who will win? I have no idea. I'm not opposed to the demon getting out, and the city getting destroyed, by the end of the story. But will see where it wants to go.
That's the plan anyway. I'm looking forward to getting started.
I haven't actually looked at anything writing-related since August. I don't plan to look now, either, since I've got an apartment move to get through first. In the last week of October though, I'll open up the Scrivener file again and figure out the details of what I'm doing.
Off the top of my head at the moment though:
1. Amulet I - basically I still need to write the third part of the three-part story. I have nothing at all so far. The key plot points that need to happen will be:
- Charles and Felna get the world through the Sundering and Melding.
- Nathaniel battles the Demon.
- James (and possibly Charles, depending on what happens) returns to Lagarnica to face their father.
2. Triangle I - there isn't really anything in this one that I can think of that still needs to be written from nothing. I've decided that Antoine was basically just following orders and the established protocol when he was sent to the area to scout it out and set up the chantry. Part of the package deal is to set up some in's with the local political powers. That's all that the poisoning of Frank was about - the expectation was that Henry would approach Antoine as the only Tainted mage in the area to ask for help, because that's what the mages are known to be good for, and therefore end up in Antoine's debt. Only, the Stranahans end up talking to the natives and then Nathaniel instead, so the ploy didn't really work. Then, beyond that, Antoine is primarily a weather mage, so his other role is to fight off the hurricane (and make the chantry at the same time) (and also Nathaniel plants his anchor at the same time).
All of that would be things to fix during revisions though, not new material, so I don't have anything planned to work on during November.
And somewhere I'll need to work in a mention of when and how the pearl got dug up from the Hall of Trees, since it was no longer there by the time Janis went to visit. I'm kind of thinking that the nearness of the phoenix might've had something to do with it, like they called to each other.
3. Triangle II - the back half of the story is what happens after Janis loses Thomas. Jacob is going to be a fairly important viewpoint character. He already knows Janis as one of the students, though she's not in the sciences. She's going to be fairly distraught over Thomas's disappearance. Jacob will figure out who she is. Meanwhile, Thomas will carry out making the cure as the king ordered, and then try to escape. Jacob, not being an idiot and having raised 4 kids, is already prepared for that, what with stout fences, bird spies, and Josephine assigned to lurk the perimeter. It's kind of open-ended from there, but eventually it's supposed to lead to Jacob financing the culture center that Janis wants to build, and then Thomas discovering that Jacob financed it. I also have some preliminary thoughts about how Mark is getting thrown in; he's also a university student, and maybe he IS in the sciences, and Jacob assigns him to do his thesis work as an interdisciplinary project with Janis's thesis work.
This part will be glorious, I can feel it. :)
4. Amulet II - well, where I left off with this was, the university tried and failed to attack the farm, and now Antoine and Adrien have to somehow be run out of town. A return show of force from Mindy isn't going to do the trick - there's no way it would end well for Mindy if she attacked the university. However: one of the quirks that Antoine has is that he calls himself a lord, even though he actually isn't one and never has been. He just wants the basic level of respect that comes with it. So, Mindy can do some digging and find out that he's not actually a lord, and have this info revealed to the local nobility at an inconvenient time. And then the mage council will decide it's simplest to reassign Antoine to somewhere else.
5. Temple - my main plan here is to rewrite the whole thing from the beginning, as that would be faster and simpler than trying to edit from what I already have. There are a few scenes here and there that I'll keep from 2004 but not many. It should go faster the second time around, because I've already got the notes and detailed timeline that I worked out while writing it the first time.
6. Birthright - I think there's a few more mobster scenes I need to do to finish off that section of the story. Then, I really need to figure out what happens after Jalai opens the magic box. That's where I stopped before. Mid-scene, Jalai opens the box ... and then, "the end."
I think all I've decided so far is that Jalai ends up with the bird, Mindy ends up with the dragon, Janis gets the pearl, and Grandmother gets the box (which she will then have to pass to Uncle's daughter instead). I'd like for something a bit more unified to happen than that though, rising from the box as a whole. Maybe Arthur will make an appearance while they're on the plain with the lightpost, since the original point was to make a clandestine rendezvous for him and the other guy's wife.
7. Myan - The zombies are going to finally attack, and then the whole thing will move forward from that point. Myan gets destroyed, the zombies march on to Fortress Launne and try to destroy the three anchors, forces at Fortress Launne will oppose them. Who will win? I have no idea. I'm not opposed to the demon getting out, and the city getting destroyed, by the end of the story. But will see where it wants to go.
That's the plan anyway. I'm looking forward to getting started.
2014/09/11
Dragonfly revisited ... again
So today I heard that a new specfic online magazine, Uncanny, has just finished setting up and are ready for short story submissions. They want "intricate, experimental stories and poems with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs." Well, it occurs to me that Dragonfly might definitely count as experimental, and it has certainly elicited strong emotions in a few people that have read it (notably evilkate, even though I can no longer find where I would've posted it where she could've seen it anymore...). Plus the magazine is so new that there is no example of what they're looking for yet so, in theory anyway, that possibly means the style field is wide open!
It took me a while to find my last good draft of Dragonfly. The original draft from March 2005 is everywhere in my files, but I had the revised version buried. Luckily, the search feature on this Mac works pretty good, and I found one from Oct 16 2009 - which would've been right before I sent it off to Glimmer Train before. I think I'll give it a detailed reread this weekend and if it still looks presentable, I'll send it on out again.
It took me a while to find my last good draft of Dragonfly. The original draft from March 2005 is everywhere in my files, but I had the revised version buried. Luckily, the search feature on this Mac works pretty good, and I found one from Oct 16 2009 - which would've been right before I sent it off to Glimmer Train before. I think I'll give it a detailed reread this weekend and if it still looks presentable, I'll send it on out again.
2014/08/31
Just a short update
I've done basically nothing since the last post. Originally I thought I'd spend some time working on it over Labor Day Weekend (going on right now), but then the apartment complex said they wanted to raise my rent by $56, and that kind of threw me out of writing mode. I've lined up a new place to move into in a couple months though. And I need to start packing.
Things that have occurred to me however:
For Amulet I Part III, what needs to happen is wrap-up for both James and Charles. So it won't just be James going back to Lagarnica. It will also be the other end of what happens with Charles and Felna, during the Sundering. What will that be exactly? Well, it so happens that I also need to put in a battle between Nathaniel and the Demon somewhere, scheduled to happen less than a decade after the events of Amulet I. So now I'm entertaining the notion of somehow having both of these events happen at the same time. And it would also explain how Nathaniel knows about the Duchenes during the court scene in Triangle II if he has met Charles.
Meanwhile, Rumen is tugging for my attention again. I'm now in the middle of ruminating about the part where he carries Jenya to her people. Might do another attempt at writing that soon.
Things that have occurred to me however:
For Amulet I Part III, what needs to happen is wrap-up for both James and Charles. So it won't just be James going back to Lagarnica. It will also be the other end of what happens with Charles and Felna, during the Sundering. What will that be exactly? Well, it so happens that I also need to put in a battle between Nathaniel and the Demon somewhere, scheduled to happen less than a decade after the events of Amulet I. So now I'm entertaining the notion of somehow having both of these events happen at the same time. And it would also explain how Nathaniel knows about the Duchenes during the court scene in Triangle II if he has met Charles.
Meanwhile, Rumen is tugging for my attention again. I'm now in the middle of ruminating about the part where he carries Jenya to her people. Might do another attempt at writing that soon.
2014/08/11
Second Draft: The Second Drafting ...
So far my second draft process for Fortress Launne seems to be:
1. Assemble all the drafts into one big file.
2. Skim them while compiling them into the one big file, but don't edit anything.
3. Make a duplicate copy of each draft to actually work on.
4. Do detailed rereads of each one. Make an outline of what the story looks like it's supposed to be.
5. Iterate. Rewrite the older stuff, write new stuff to fill all the holes.
I haven't done #4 for Amulet II or Myan yet, but it's certainly been a helpful exercise for the others.
The Flattening of a Temple
This was the one I wrote first (2004), and it has by far the most setting holes. It was also highly melodramatic - I can definitely tell that my writing skills improved as the years went by. The ones from 2007 forward are very readable as-is. Temple on the other hand, I think I'm basically going to have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch.
I'm probably going to keep the original structure idea, sort of. Start the story with the epic battle scene. Then have the king start an investigation into why that happened. Once the background is laid out, go back to the battle and cover all the parts that the king isn't going to find out about. End with Pedro. Of all the parts of the original draft, I really like the last few sentences with Pedro and Sarabelle.
The outline I made has pointed out a number of important holes in the story, too. Notably with Felicia. By the time I figure out how to fix that, I'm hoping it will also help with figuring out Antoine and the rest of the mages.
Other than that... well, I tried to reread my notes from all the tinkering I did between 2004 and 2006 or so. But I'm probably going to ignore most of it. It was a useful exercise for something, I'm sure, and all part of the process.
Amulet II
It basically has occurred to me that Triangle I -->Amulet II --> Temple is a story arc about the Reiter House. The tower gets built in Triangle I and demolished in Temple. So this one will likely make more sense from Antoine's point of view when I figure out what his point of view was in Triangle I - and also what Felicia's goals were in Temple.
Triangle II
The outline for this one turned out to be straightforward, much to my surprise. The first half is going to draw heavily on the Janis draft of 2006, where I basically wrote everything Janis is going to do and why, but didn't have the scenes in the right order, or the right setting elements pinned down yet. Then in the middle will be the court scene from Taint. And then there's a whole other half I haven't written yet, which will be from Jacob's point of view.
In general, the structure reminds me of Amulet I because it's in three parts (sort of). Only, the middle part with the king's court is actually quite short - only about 3 chapters or so. Whereas Aunlania is the longest part of Amulet I (so far, anyway). Also: the Janis part of the story, which will be around 20k words long, just like the Edward part of Amulet I ... can in fact actually be a completely complete story with all loose ends wrapped up and etc ... just like Edward's story would be if Lucien's spell actually worked.
I still find it kind of amusing that I had no idea that there was going to be a single coherent book in this part of the timeline until after I'd finished Nano 2006. Of course, on the other hand. I have a sneaking suspicion that what I'm writing isn't actually 7 novels. It's more like 15-20 novelettes, where each segment is 20k words long....
Amulet I
The broad outline for this one is relatively straightforward ... probably. I sort of plotted out a sensible order of useable scenes from the 2006 and 2007 attempts. And then there's huge new blanks to fill in again for what happens after I run out of outline, that explains why the Duchenes and the Eenin are talking to each other.
I don't know why I have so much trouble with this one. I'm starting to have doubts about whether the Duchenes are even supposed to be in the Fortress Launne series, since, as noted, the Edward part of the story could be its own completely independent story. Plus the random scene about Charles and a tree and a prophecy and etc. I kind of wish I'd gone with it now, just to see where it went, because the only other time a scene like that randomly appeared (Thomas and Arrun fleeing Edward in Amulet I 2005), it was because I was doing the whole rest of the story wrong.
The Fall of Myan
So far I've reread the first draft and reread my notes from this blog. The rough outline I'd figured on before is probably what it'll end up being - where it starts out by following Suunja, then he eventually runs into Martha, whereupon it then goes over Martha's storyline about Endron Oil, and then moves Suunja and Martha forward together until they run into the zombie storyline. Then it would cut back to the Rouge Rogues. Something like that.
Eventually I run out of both outline and draft, though. I haven't written what happens after the zombies start their attack. I stalled out on what specifically the attack strategy was. At some point I'm still going to have to figure that stuff out.
Birthright
This one also has a three-part structure. It starts with scenes of Janis and Felicia at the Culture Center, and ends with Jalai in Mindy's house (along with others). The whole middle is a mobster story where they fight over possession of the magic box. I don't think I should intersperse anything in between - better to just let the readers immerse in that one for the whole go. I have a fairly detailed outline for the mobsters. The biggest problem is that it needs some kind of satisfying ending, where everything gets resolved to the mobsters' satisfaction. I can't just suddenly take the box away from them and leave them all hanging.
Triangle I
A lot of this one is ready to go as-is. The biggest problem is a complete lack of motivation for Antoine. I need to give him either a really good reason to try to kill Frank, or, he was trying to do something else and poisoned Frank by accident. Either way, there needs to be more to the character than what I have at the moment. And have it somehow also be related to everything else the mages do in the other books.
I guess that's it for where things currently stand.
1. Assemble all the drafts into one big file.
2. Skim them while compiling them into the one big file, but don't edit anything.
3. Make a duplicate copy of each draft to actually work on.
4. Do detailed rereads of each one. Make an outline of what the story looks like it's supposed to be.
5. Iterate. Rewrite the older stuff, write new stuff to fill all the holes.
I haven't done #4 for Amulet II or Myan yet, but it's certainly been a helpful exercise for the others.
The Flattening of a Temple
This was the one I wrote first (2004), and it has by far the most setting holes. It was also highly melodramatic - I can definitely tell that my writing skills improved as the years went by. The ones from 2007 forward are very readable as-is. Temple on the other hand, I think I'm basically going to have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch.
I'm probably going to keep the original structure idea, sort of. Start the story with the epic battle scene. Then have the king start an investigation into why that happened. Once the background is laid out, go back to the battle and cover all the parts that the king isn't going to find out about. End with Pedro. Of all the parts of the original draft, I really like the last few sentences with Pedro and Sarabelle.
The outline I made has pointed out a number of important holes in the story, too. Notably with Felicia. By the time I figure out how to fix that, I'm hoping it will also help with figuring out Antoine and the rest of the mages.
Other than that... well, I tried to reread my notes from all the tinkering I did between 2004 and 2006 or so. But I'm probably going to ignore most of it. It was a useful exercise for something, I'm sure, and all part of the process.
Amulet II
It basically has occurred to me that Triangle I -->Amulet II --> Temple is a story arc about the Reiter House. The tower gets built in Triangle I and demolished in Temple. So this one will likely make more sense from Antoine's point of view when I figure out what his point of view was in Triangle I - and also what Felicia's goals were in Temple.
Triangle II
The outline for this one turned out to be straightforward, much to my surprise. The first half is going to draw heavily on the Janis draft of 2006, where I basically wrote everything Janis is going to do and why, but didn't have the scenes in the right order, or the right setting elements pinned down yet. Then in the middle will be the court scene from Taint. And then there's a whole other half I haven't written yet, which will be from Jacob's point of view.
In general, the structure reminds me of Amulet I because it's in three parts (sort of). Only, the middle part with the king's court is actually quite short - only about 3 chapters or so. Whereas Aunlania is the longest part of Amulet I (so far, anyway). Also: the Janis part of the story, which will be around 20k words long, just like the Edward part of Amulet I ... can in fact actually be a completely complete story with all loose ends wrapped up and etc ... just like Edward's story would be if Lucien's spell actually worked.
I still find it kind of amusing that I had no idea that there was going to be a single coherent book in this part of the timeline until after I'd finished Nano 2006. Of course, on the other hand. I have a sneaking suspicion that what I'm writing isn't actually 7 novels. It's more like 15-20 novelettes, where each segment is 20k words long....
Amulet I
The broad outline for this one is relatively straightforward ... probably. I sort of plotted out a sensible order of useable scenes from the 2006 and 2007 attempts. And then there's huge new blanks to fill in again for what happens after I run out of outline, that explains why the Duchenes and the Eenin are talking to each other.
I don't know why I have so much trouble with this one. I'm starting to have doubts about whether the Duchenes are even supposed to be in the Fortress Launne series, since, as noted, the Edward part of the story could be its own completely independent story. Plus the random scene about Charles and a tree and a prophecy and etc. I kind of wish I'd gone with it now, just to see where it went, because the only other time a scene like that randomly appeared (Thomas and Arrun fleeing Edward in Amulet I 2005), it was because I was doing the whole rest of the story wrong.
The Fall of Myan
So far I've reread the first draft and reread my notes from this blog. The rough outline I'd figured on before is probably what it'll end up being - where it starts out by following Suunja, then he eventually runs into Martha, whereupon it then goes over Martha's storyline about Endron Oil, and then moves Suunja and Martha forward together until they run into the zombie storyline. Then it would cut back to the Rouge Rogues. Something like that.
Eventually I run out of both outline and draft, though. I haven't written what happens after the zombies start their attack. I stalled out on what specifically the attack strategy was. At some point I'm still going to have to figure that stuff out.
Birthright
This one also has a three-part structure. It starts with scenes of Janis and Felicia at the Culture Center, and ends with Jalai in Mindy's house (along with others). The whole middle is a mobster story where they fight over possession of the magic box. I don't think I should intersperse anything in between - better to just let the readers immerse in that one for the whole go. I have a fairly detailed outline for the mobsters. The biggest problem is that it needs some kind of satisfying ending, where everything gets resolved to the mobsters' satisfaction. I can't just suddenly take the box away from them and leave them all hanging.
Triangle I
A lot of this one is ready to go as-is. The biggest problem is a complete lack of motivation for Antoine. I need to give him either a really good reason to try to kill Frank, or, he was trying to do something else and poisoned Frank by accident. Either way, there needs to be more to the character than what I have at the moment. And have it somehow also be related to everything else the mages do in the other books.
I guess that's it for where things currently stand.
2014/08/03
Post-Camp Progress Report
The biggest thing that Camp Nanowrimo 2014 did for me was force me to actually look at all the first drafts of Fortress Launne, figure out where things stand, and start to work out what needs doing next. I now have everything organized into a single Scrivener file and I've started "Second Draft" sections for all of what I think will be the actual books. This may actually still change around later, depending on what happens.
In general, Nanowrimo 2004-2010 were about figuring out what happens in the first half of every story. While at the same time working out settings, characters and their motives, etc. Once I have the first half figured out, I should (in theory) be able to write the other half.
Surprisingly, some of these first halfs are more organized than I would've thought. I can combine the useful parts of what happened in the two attempts at Janis (20k words in 2006 and 15k words in 2010) to make an actual coherent story with its own beginning, middle, and end. The total length of this will probably only be about 20k words by itself, so it also serves as the first half (or third?) of Triangle II. What happens after the parts I have first draft material on? Well, I have basically a paragraph summary on that - Jacob is going to help Janis build the cultural center. I have nothing else.
Triangle I is about 2/3rds there. I just need to figure out how Antoine fits into everything. He really needs a compelling motive for poisoning Frank. Preferably so compelling that it will also carry over with consequences into Amulet II.
Amulet I sort of has a very rough outline. I'm basically keeping all of the first third, where Edward is in Lagarnica. Then the next part is in Aunlania, and really needs to show off who the Eenin are. Then there needs to be a third part that's back in Lagarnica so that the overall story can have an actual satisfying ending of some sort, and I have nothing on it except the vague inkling that it will probably be from James's point of view.
I suspect that as I keep digging around (and I'm doing this via Distraction Method more than anything else), all of the other stories will be like this too.
SO. New plan for Nanowrimo 2014: "Fortress Launne: The Second Half of Everything."
If I can get my act together on organizing where things stand with every story by November, complete with detailed outlines of what has already been written and what needs to be written, then I can spend November writing new material toward the second half of everything. All of this will also be essentially first draft material, doing what I did with the first halfs, only it'll be adding on. It technically probably breaks their rules, but from my perspective it will count as first draft from scratch.
I also added what I have from Emerald Sword into the same Scrivener file. It isn't part of Fortress Launne, but in the back of my mind it's a story about Lucien Duchene, so it's in the same universe and therefore belongs. No idea yet if I'll actually do anything with it in the near future. The first 6k words were really damn amusing though, and I do want to finish it at some point.
In general, Nanowrimo 2004-2010 were about figuring out what happens in the first half of every story. While at the same time working out settings, characters and their motives, etc. Once I have the first half figured out, I should (in theory) be able to write the other half.
Surprisingly, some of these first halfs are more organized than I would've thought. I can combine the useful parts of what happened in the two attempts at Janis (20k words in 2006 and 15k words in 2010) to make an actual coherent story with its own beginning, middle, and end. The total length of this will probably only be about 20k words by itself, so it also serves as the first half (or third?) of Triangle II. What happens after the parts I have first draft material on? Well, I have basically a paragraph summary on that - Jacob is going to help Janis build the cultural center. I have nothing else.
Triangle I is about 2/3rds there. I just need to figure out how Antoine fits into everything. He really needs a compelling motive for poisoning Frank. Preferably so compelling that it will also carry over with consequences into Amulet II.
Amulet I sort of has a very rough outline. I'm basically keeping all of the first third, where Edward is in Lagarnica. Then the next part is in Aunlania, and really needs to show off who the Eenin are. Then there needs to be a third part that's back in Lagarnica so that the overall story can have an actual satisfying ending of some sort, and I have nothing on it except the vague inkling that it will probably be from James's point of view.
I suspect that as I keep digging around (and I'm doing this via Distraction Method more than anything else), all of the other stories will be like this too.
If I can get my act together on organizing where things stand with every story by November, complete with detailed outlines of what has already been written and what needs to be written, then I can spend November writing new material toward the second half of everything. All of this will also be essentially first draft material, doing what I did with the first halfs, only it'll be adding on. It technically probably breaks their rules, but from my perspective it will count as first draft from scratch.
I also added what I have from Emerald Sword into the same Scrivener file. It isn't part of Fortress Launne, but in the back of my mind it's a story about Lucien Duchene, so it's in the same universe and therefore belongs. No idea yet if I'll actually do anything with it in the near future. The first 6k words were really damn amusing though, and I do want to finish it at some point.
2014/07/19
Second Draft Progress
Well, I've finished Step 1: copy/paste the first drafts of everything into a single Scrivener file.
After thinking it over, I've decided that Step 2 is: copy/paste everything again, within the same Scrivener file, and then delete all the parts that I'm definitely not going to use anywhere.
This is much harder than it sounds. Since I'm being chronological, I'm starting with Amulet I, and large chunks of the 2005 drafts are fairly cringeworthy.
So, what am I doing instead? Blathering about it in a blog post, hoping that I'll be able to pep talk myself into actually doing that.
After thinking it over, I've decided that Step 2 is: copy/paste everything again, within the same Scrivener file, and then delete all the parts that I'm definitely not going to use anywhere.
This is much harder than it sounds. Since I'm being chronological, I'm starting with Amulet I, and large chunks of the 2005 drafts are fairly cringeworthy.
So, what am I doing instead? Blathering about it in a blog post, hoping that I'll be able to pep talk myself into actually doing that.
2014/07/10
General Update on Everything
Well, 2013 Nanowrimo was the first one I actually "failed." I got about 6000 words into Cosmic Potato and then wandered off. It was a pretty good start though, with a fair bit of setting establishment, and then they started their sea voyage. Seems promising as a future project that I don't know when I'll get back to. Maybe 2014 Nanowrimo?
The root issue with all Nanowrimos is still the same - I don't really want to start any new gigantic projects when I haven't finished the ones that are already in progress. In particular, Fortress Launne is still at the beginning of second draft stage.
Fortunately, Camp Nanowrimo doesn't have the same strictness about having to start brand new stories from scratch. I'm signed up for July 2014, and my declared project is revision for Fortress Launne. I suspect that for the next few years, I'm going to spend every summer doing one of these Camps so I can revise or continue previous projects.
So far I've been compiling all the first drafts of everything from 2004-2010 into one big Scrivener file. It's been an interesting read, and it turns out to be true what everyone says, about getting some distance between writing and editing. In my case, because I have too good of a memory, 3.5 years was how long it took before I had enough distance.
There is a LOT of well-written stuff in there that I can use with only minor edits. The first 20k words of Edward can pretty much stay exactly like it is now - all those failed earlier attempts worked out on that front, because the last version is all exactly right.
A whole lot of Triangle I can too, though all the parts with Antoine in them need rethinking. For that matter, a lot of the parts with Antoine in Amulet II do too. Basically it boils down to a lack of proper motivation for him to do any of the key plot-driving actions that he's supposed to be in the stories for. And now that I think of it, that's essentially the problem with Felicia in Temple also. I might have to do some more thinking on all of the mages, what their organization is like, what their goals are, etc.
The other overall big issue is that in basically every story, everything is only told about halfway through and then it just stops. As I was writing them, things would grind to a halt under the weight of "not quite right" and "not going in the right direction" - and so shortly after 50k words, I'd stop so I could figure out what I was really trying to do. And then of course never get back to it. So a lot of the actual revision work will be writing the other half of everything.
I've also noticed that Amulet I is not actually where Fortress Launne starts. The actual city started in Triangle I - when Nathaniel is laying down the binding spell, which takes up about half the plot. It's Aliacorba's storyline that started in Amulet I. Also, the other end of the story of the city is in Myan - when the binding spell falls. Likewise, Aliacorba's story begins in Amulet I and ends in Temple, with the climax portion in the middle of Triangle II. I'm beginning to think there needs to be another short story in between Amulet I and Triangle I that talks about the actual demon, because so far there's a lot of references to him throughout the series, and the battle that Nathaniel won, but that part has never been on stage anywhere. Since I've recently rediscovered that Chance has been researching this demon for a while now (as mentioned in Myan), I might have to write something about it that focuses around Chance.
Meanwhile, there's a whole separate story about the Duchenes that ... well, I wouldn't say that it ends in Amulet I at the moment, but it very well could. Depending on when (whether?) I go back to write the part about where Lucien is from, which would be my Emerald Sword story that I only got 6 chapters into during one of the Labor Day novel attempts. But that's a whole separate side project. There is also Arthur Glorian to consider; if the Emerald Sword story is effectively the beginning of the Duchene storyline, then the end is in the gleam-in-my-eye premise where Janis and Arthur, far in the future after Fortress Launne ends, have to face the unraveling of reality.
The more I dig up about this story, the more there turns out to be, growing in both directions. It just never ends.
I guess I need to stop thinking about the enormity of it all and just get the first drafts compiled, and then figure out where I want to start. "Anywhere" I'm sure. The way I figure it, I should try to be chronological, at least as I get started, since all the later parts have to refer to the earlier parts, and it would be good for the earlier parts to be established properly first. I'm thinking detailed work on Triangle I might be the best bet, especially if it turns out I'm still stuck on how to write the middle and end parts of Amulet I. Which is basically where I ground to a halt three years ago.
The root issue with all Nanowrimos is still the same - I don't really want to start any new gigantic projects when I haven't finished the ones that are already in progress. In particular, Fortress Launne is still at the beginning of second draft stage.
Fortunately, Camp Nanowrimo doesn't have the same strictness about having to start brand new stories from scratch. I'm signed up for July 2014, and my declared project is revision for Fortress Launne. I suspect that for the next few years, I'm going to spend every summer doing one of these Camps so I can revise or continue previous projects.
So far I've been compiling all the first drafts of everything from 2004-2010 into one big Scrivener file. It's been an interesting read, and it turns out to be true what everyone says, about getting some distance between writing and editing. In my case, because I have too good of a memory, 3.5 years was how long it took before I had enough distance.
There is a LOT of well-written stuff in there that I can use with only minor edits. The first 20k words of Edward can pretty much stay exactly like it is now - all those failed earlier attempts worked out on that front, because the last version is all exactly right.
A whole lot of Triangle I can too, though all the parts with Antoine in them need rethinking. For that matter, a lot of the parts with Antoine in Amulet II do too. Basically it boils down to a lack of proper motivation for him to do any of the key plot-driving actions that he's supposed to be in the stories for. And now that I think of it, that's essentially the problem with Felicia in Temple also. I might have to do some more thinking on all of the mages, what their organization is like, what their goals are, etc.
The other overall big issue is that in basically every story, everything is only told about halfway through and then it just stops. As I was writing them, things would grind to a halt under the weight of "not quite right" and "not going in the right direction" - and so shortly after 50k words, I'd stop so I could figure out what I was really trying to do. And then of course never get back to it. So a lot of the actual revision work will be writing the other half of everything.
I've also noticed that Amulet I is not actually where Fortress Launne starts. The actual city started in Triangle I - when Nathaniel is laying down the binding spell, which takes up about half the plot. It's Aliacorba's storyline that started in Amulet I. Also, the other end of the story of the city is in Myan - when the binding spell falls. Likewise, Aliacorba's story begins in Amulet I and ends in Temple, with the climax portion in the middle of Triangle II. I'm beginning to think there needs to be another short story in between Amulet I and Triangle I that talks about the actual demon, because so far there's a lot of references to him throughout the series, and the battle that Nathaniel won, but that part has never been on stage anywhere. Since I've recently rediscovered that Chance has been researching this demon for a while now (as mentioned in Myan), I might have to write something about it that focuses around Chance.
Meanwhile, there's a whole separate story about the Duchenes that ... well, I wouldn't say that it ends in Amulet I at the moment, but it very well could. Depending on when (whether?) I go back to write the part about where Lucien is from, which would be my Emerald Sword story that I only got 6 chapters into during one of the Labor Day novel attempts. But that's a whole separate side project. There is also Arthur Glorian to consider; if the Emerald Sword story is effectively the beginning of the Duchene storyline, then the end is in the gleam-in-my-eye premise where Janis and Arthur, far in the future after Fortress Launne ends, have to face the unraveling of reality.
The more I dig up about this story, the more there turns out to be, growing in both directions. It just never ends.
I guess I need to stop thinking about the enormity of it all and just get the first drafts compiled, and then figure out where I want to start. "Anywhere" I'm sure. The way I figure it, I should try to be chronological, at least as I get started, since all the later parts have to refer to the earlier parts, and it would be good for the earlier parts to be established properly first. I'm thinking detailed work on Triangle I might be the best bet, especially if it turns out I'm still stuck on how to write the middle and end parts of Amulet I. Which is basically where I ground to a halt three years ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
