Friday, December 23, 2011

Advice from the monastic cell

And people think being a medievalist can't help you on the modem world!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/books/review/their-noonday-demons-and-ours.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb2

Still want to learn how to be a stylite though.

That was way too easy to accidentally unpublish. Republishing!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Editing update

So I am now working on Chapter 5 of editing for the NaNoWriMo 2010 novel, which has the horrific working title of "1950".

I've organized all the scenes through chapter 9.

I'm not quite sure if I have a good sense of what I am doing in this draft yet. It seems very trial and error in a lot of ways. I'd like to be more aware of what I'm doing so, you know, I can do it again. For the other two drafts.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

day 30, 50103 official

Day 29, 48000 words

Pretty much finished story however. Trying to backfill a few scenes that became necessary due to later changes in the story. Still, word count is kinda neat. I think it's the first time I ever hit a triple zero count.

Monday, November 28, 2011

day 28, 45090

Now one day behind, but I only have two days left. I keep thinking I have more.

time to write final scene, then the mop up. Let's hope it doesn't go too hard tomorrow.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

day 27, session 2, 42507

Found a bunch of new, really good OSS Training videos as well.

Only 2500 behind now.

day 27, session 1 40932

Over the 40k mark. 3 days left after today--although I admit i am hoping to hit around 3-4k words for the day.

About to leave Istanbul. This is extending a bit more than i thought it would, Which is good--as it also adds a bunch of scenes that were needed previously, fills in some gaps and shortens the scenes that were so hard to write earlier.

Apparently, it's hard to keep writing when you have nothing to say. Who knew?

Music for next story: Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Yes, I've already decided.

day 26, session 2 39806

written at Barnes and Noble's with Alex, so a bit distracted.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

day 26, session 1, 39455

So here's the first set for the day. Now I'm off to run again, which I'm not looking forward to [whenever am I however?]

I really hate running. But it works. Also I want to do it while the weather is nice.

Also, I need to figure out what is going to happen to make Del panicked about Julie which will drive the last quarter of the novel. Right now we're having lots of fun in Istanbul, but it's not going to last forever. He has to get back to France somehow.

Next year

So last night I thought about what I want to do next year (novella series) what genre I'd like to play with next (fantasy) and started brainstorming ideas for it.

I had stayed away from fantasy due to the amount of world-building I thought would be involved, but decided to work on something more character based and fill in the details later [a bit like how I am handling the historic elements in my current book].

Still, as I would not be writing this for another 8 months, that will give me lots of time to brainstorm and create a skeleton.

Friday, November 25, 2011

day 25, session 2 38169

Less than 4k words behind now.

Whole new subplot. Will have to be worked back in, but finally I have another thread for Paris--as well as some interesting parallels for the second book.

I think the shower is dripping and it sounds like crackling and it's been driving me batty for the past fifteen minutes. Otherwise I might have even gotten more done.

Also, note to self: running IS good for ideas. Still doesn't make me like running much though.

day 25, session 1, 37544

Spent the morning doing a loose plot structure for the rest of the story.

Twenty-one scenes mapped out—even if I only write 500 words for each one of them, I'll be on target.

Hoping I'll get another session in today.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

they used to sleep on the beach

in Coney Island. They don't do that anymore. best writing music ever, apparently. Godspeed on Amazon

day 24, 35999

This number, it amuses me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

day 24,i mean day 23, 33930

Deficit finally below 5k. good. Tomorrow should have him join the OSS. should hit training on Friday but... hard part over weekend. Istanbul. ugh. I am realizing that the reason chapter four was so hard to write was because I made it too darn long. Four should mostly be split between three and five. Move five back to four. Six to five. seven is two chapter's worth of materials - back in US; followed by OSS training and sending him to Istanbul. Paris is wonderful but it's really not four chapters! Not in this book at least. Also, needs more Normandy. Everything needs more Normandy. edited because i had marked this day 24. Not 23 [which is correct]

day 23, 31487 erm I mean day 22.

One of, if not the easiest, days of writing in this entire month. And a scene I decided to write two days ago with a character that didn't exist until about day five of the month. Still, 2k words in about 45 minutes may be a record for me. This evening was so horribly rotten--took me two hours to get home--that I'm shocked I was able to decompress enough to write at all. Of course, running always seems to burn out all of my anger. Maybe because my annoyance and hatred of running just overshadows everything else. edited because i had marked this day 23. Not 22 [which is correct]

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

French Charcoal box

besottment by paper relics

Old french charcoal box. Great site as well. The journaling classes interest me--what a great idea, to share knowledge like that. Short, sweet, personal to the artist.

edited to add: The above is the site where I found the image linked; but the original site [to give full credit!] is here: Jennifer Price Studio.

Monday, November 21, 2011

day 21, 29472

Back to New Jersey with him!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

day 20, 26805

So unlike last year (but like this summer) I'm not writing weird sprints to pad my word count. It's all story all the time. Maybe I should change that. Finally left Paris. almost in Orleans.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

"A novel is a living thing" day 17, 24650

From the NaNoWriMo pep talk from Chris Cleave:
A novel is a living thing and it resists containment within the structures we erect for it. Even worse, the novel has intelligence and it will inevitably turn against its creator. Think of it like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The problem is that a good character in a novel will reach a point of maturity where he or she is not necessarily biddable.
What always keeps me going at certain points is when I myself no longer am sure what happens next. When the characters start to tell me things. I used to love when this would happen when I was acting, on rare occasions. Like I would feel that sometimes, I would raise them, create them, materialize them, separate from me and the page and even the fusion of me and the page until there was almost this third thing, this ghost, that haunted the both of us. This universal character that existed apart from the two things that had made it flesh. This is what I love most about the drafting process, that almost Dr. Frankenstein feeling of something lifted from disparate parts to a life of its own. Except hopefully without the villagers, small child killing, and especially without the bolts. They just look painful.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

day 16 23341

Almost got him out of Paris, finally. Some fun and interesting things starting to happen again. I was starting to dislike some of these people.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

day 15 21592

haven't quite felt the need to post as often as I have in the past, and it may be because, well, I have more of an idea what i"m doing. That is: I know why things are going the way they are. once I hit editing phase I'll have to post constantly however. I have no idea what i"m doing there.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

day 11 addendum

day eleven total: 15410ish. Will update when nano site comes back online.

day 13, session 1: 16439

And see, I thought I'd posted something on Friday. Huh. Still haven't left Paris. Who knew Paris would be so difficult to write? I'd love to leave Paris and get back to New Jersey today. If I can get him home and into OSS training, that would be great.

Friday, November 11, 2011

day ten, session three, 14405

4579 words today which isn't bad at all. Wasn't too hard either; not with writing in sessions. Hoping I can get some details to add in as well, but the first three chapters are down at least. I need things that will happen in Istanbul, which is tough since it's really just supposed to be a desk job.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

day ten, sessions one and two - 12680

So now it starts to flow again. Even scenes I couldn't write before and just skipped are going smoothly. Today's target is 16666 words. I am unlikely to hit that, but I should make another 1k words today. Tomorrow will likely be handwritten so I will see how far I can get with that. That's often enjoyable but slow. The next sticking point will likely be Istanbul around 30-35k words. Not looking forward to that.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

day nine, 9826

Sweet merciful crap, but it's been painful. Still, FINALLY I'm out of 1939, and to May 1940. Tomorrow the Battle for France begins. Here are some things I did to combat the writer's block I've had for the past few days. -asked most of my friends with art training about their school experiences; -Nichole told me to give him block, which helped -running, -watched lots of tv -ate donuts -long walks -wrote about 5-600 words in French. It seems like writing in French helps whenever there is a stoppage in, you know, the French bits. Duh. Kind of makes sense doesn't it? He also wrote a long letter about how nothing he did was right and that he was homesick. I felt the first one; remembered the second from my own experiences in France. No matter how much I loved it, still....

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Things I wish I'd seen earlier.

Have to go back to the Lysander, the SOE stopped using the Halifax in '42.... Futurians: how awesomely perfect are they? I feel like I need to work them in somehow. The 39 World's Fair is all over the other book. Kind of early though, wonder if he could get in. His father is so a Theosophist. Not unknown in that social class, would put him in contact with someone from downtown like his mother (who is more of the Goldman school). I like the idea of the mother bringing the rabble-rousing radical communism, and the father bringing a tempering of pacifism and a spiritual overview to them. Lastly: it's odd considering that this was, in no way, the inspiration for the characters--but there was more of me and my sister in the scene i wrote about Gene and Reed than anything else I've written.

Friday, November 4, 2011

day four, 5266

I dreamed about my story last night. That was... disconcerting a bit. I am very happy that I feel like I am getting things together in such a way that I have enough structure to propel me forward but not so much that I feel trapped, locked in, and the story has nothing to tell me. I write as much for my characters to surprise me as anything else. It always seems so mystical and strange that the characters write the story except that for me, they do. I'm not sure how it psychologically synthesizes, but Gene told me that I needed to write his own story or the story that I told last year wouldn't make sense. And now I know how he afforded all those radios on that FBI salary. I always wondered. I appreciate him letting me in on his secrets.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A little something something

Handley Page Halifax - shows up in the first part of my story.

day 3, 3056

As frustrating as it is that I am writing about 1k words a day... well, it's 1k words a day! I should be less cranky about it.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

day two 2109 total

i'm only writing about 1k/day, but... I'm writing 1k/day. can't really complain.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

day one, 1052

So I thought I'd done my outline, but... no, it was still a bunch of notes in my notebook, waiting to be entered. ditto with my timeline of events to help me.AND I hadn't finished either 1939 or 1944's research yet! I really need to not mark things off my to-do list until they are, you know, to-done. Still: kick ass opener. Really happy about it. And tomorrow, hopefully, I won't have to muck about with preliminaries anymore. another bonus: I got to call my dad for airplane help and I have an excuse to look at Jane's with him.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Call Me Fishmeal.: Success, and Farming vs. Mining

This is actually about programming. But I think it's important to remember in life in general.

There's no one big score, and you're out. There's no hoping for the lottery. There's just what you do every day.

Call Me Fishmeal.: Success, and Farming vs. Mining:

'via Blog this'

Slump!

Only made it into chapter 3 with my revisions so far. The hardest part at the moment is not to charge ahead excitedly. How much is it appropriate to hold back, save for later? How much should be done in the moment? I don't just want to keep writing the beginning over and over again. Still, lots of work started for November as well. I'm hoping that will reduce the amount of pre-revision work (but not restrict me from exploring).

Monday, September 5, 2011

Editing and planning....

CampNaNoWriMo

I've started the editing process. I set up a plan which vaguely goes like this:

Prep:

  • cut all chapters into scenes
  • mark thematic elements
  • character lists
  • mark point of view
  • short research as necessary

Draft 2

  • Scene organization
  • place scenes in structurs [start with major ones]
  • placeholders for insertions
  • write missing scenes as go through draft from beginning to end

Draft 3

  • Scene arc
  • treat scenes as small stories
  • review internal scene integrity
  • full rewrite, beginning to end

Draft 4

Fact Checking

Draft 5 and onward

Word-level revision


The plan is to get through draft two in September and then three in October. Once that's done I'll have a reading draft to show to some initial readers to see what they think overall. The last two+ drafts could take a year. It's hard to work too much on that in advance.

At any rate, this will free me up for:

NaNoWriMo 2011

Generally, I've been what in NaNo they call a pantser—that is, I do everything by the seat of my pants. This year I want to try to write from an outline. Generally this kills it for me, but I am hoping it won't tank my November draft entirely. Also, one of the characters in my draft from last year—well, his backstory kind of took over into its own story, and I'd like to run with it.

Friday, September 2, 2011

On Story Structure

Highly useful

Site updates

So I had a new website, all set to go, for my writing, based on my personal twitter handle. And I looked at this site and said: THIS should be my writing blog. Because, it already is. So I'll be working a bit on making this site a bit swankier - spending some times with styles and the like. I fear it's still for me, at this point, for my writing process, but sadly, no longer just my Office of Letters and Light related content. Editing! Resource Links! yeah that's about all the other stuff at the moment. So, hypothetical and mythical readers! Look forward to this! Or not, if you really liked the generic green block style. Sorry! -Kyrce

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

day 31, 2114

Yay! finished with 50046, plus the stuff i wrote in April, makes my total come to: 54399.

Off tomorrow most likely, and apparently I don't work Fridays (or at least in the summer?) but editing will start this weekend at the latest.

This time, I didn't cry. But I feel satisfied.

I also don't feel anywhere near as drained as the last time.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

day 30, 3577

Oops. forgot to post yesterday.

about 2k tomorrow and draft is done!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

day 28, session 3, 2015

probably should be 3 & 4 because I wrote in to 1k increments.

a lot easier with a problem and a 1k word count.

edited to add: current total 41263.

3k words per day while working? mwah ha ha ha.

Yeah it'll be interesting to see if I can pull this one off.

day 28, session 2, 2151

Almost to 40k. 3 days. 10k. Let's see if I can hit another 2k tonight at least. I'd much prefer to be at 45k this evening but that may be a bit much to ask.

Currently I have the next 4,000 words roughly plotted. That will take me to the last quarter of the story and the end.

Since I plan to edit this in September, I really need it finished.

day 28, session 1, 2048

Was a bit hard to write for the past few days, although I did try for it. One of the hard things about it is making sure you write every single day, no matter what. It is difficult to know what excuses are invalid (almost all of them) and when you are just tormenting yourself by even trying.

I did end up writing a couple hundred words in the off time. I did sit most days. That is good.

When I first started exercising again, I used to bribe myself with the sauna: Okay, you have to go to the gym, but you don't have to exercise. You can just sit in the sauna. Once exercise became habit, I no longer need the bribe.

I need to figure out a writing bribe. The important thing is to work on it daily; the unimportant thing, for most of the time at least, is getting 2k words written. Eventually, you will just feel unmoored if you don't.

At least, that's what one hopes.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

day 23, 1343

Ugh. Not enough. Too much mucking about on the Interwebz.

Didn't help that the scene ended early as well.

Still. They're on the Atlantic. That has to be good right? They're on their way! ten days to Trieste!

Monday, August 22, 2011

day 22, 1800

Was really hard not to blow off writing for research today.

Who knew Trieste was so interesting?

It's still writing a lot faster. I just need more info on the steamship - so much on third class and first, so little on second class passage.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

day 21, 2179

We're back to adventure.

When I started this story, I somehow wanted to end it in the Himalayas. Even thought I felt it was kind of absurd.

Well they spent far too much time in Brooklyn, but at least I should get them to Istanbul soon enough. Maybe they'll make it all the way to Nepal. Who knows?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

day 20, part one, 1692

The part one is hopeful thinking.

Need a break now though. Not getting more behind, but could use another makeup session before sleep.

Kinda wanting to go to Egan's though. It's a beautiful night for the deck.

Friday, August 19, 2011

day 19, 2499

It's unlikely I'll get to write Monday, let's see how far I can get this weekend on this.

Not sure what my next direction is. Need to sleep on it, before I continue with the new chapter. Have a vague idea.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

day 18, 1771

For some reason, I write really really fast to Godspeed you black emperor.

As in: 1750 words in about 45 minutes.

Weird.

Now I'm worried I'll get sick of it.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

day 16, 1718

barely squeaking in before midnight!

Monday, August 15, 2011

day 15, 1673

I'd probably get more writing done if my writing sessions didn't start with 30 minutes of noodling on the internet....

Would have liked a couple hundred more words today, but this is fine. Probably should try to catch up before I skip another day [or have another light day].

day 14, 2736

Two sessions. Still behind the count, but hit 20k at least.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

day 13 part one: 1417

Only afternoon session. Apparently I really needed sleep.

Probably will have to do session two by hand, won't write up til after midnight, but just in case i get more done....

Mmm, theremin.
music: Godspeed you black emperor!

day 12, 0

So Fridays apparently don't work for me.

Or maybe it's pep talks?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

day 11, 739

This week - for non-writing reasons - has not been good. It happens.

I was really excited about what i was going to write tonight - there was a great start, i really wanted to see where the story went. But I was drained. Tired. Just not up to it. I didn't want to sit down at all, I wanted to curl up and read, or watch something stupid on netflix.

But writers write. That's what you do. You write. There are no mental health days.

And sure, I may have not really written the scene - this should have been another 1k words, at least, but the last 250 was really just a bullet list of the sequence of events more than anything resembling story.

But I wrote.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

day 10, 1756

ooh! plot twist! I love it when I just make up plot twists!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

day 9, 1743

We get to the middle. Which to me is the muddle. So far, okay. We are moving.

edited to add: now only 1100 down. Was a bit over 2k down on Friday, so not bad.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Day 8, 1777

Plot thing is really helping.

Now if I could just work on that pesky self-editing problem.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Day 7, 1866 words

Read some stuff on story structure that has really helped me stage my scenes. Took a couple days to process though. Today was a lot easier to write-I suspect it will continue to pay off more and more.

I like the plot whisperer stuff but I find it too intricate for the first draft--I just want enough that leaves it open-ended, but gives me somewhere to go to find the next scene.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

day 6, part the second: 817

all hand written (train again!) and transcribed. Probably should have pushed another 800 tonight, but I'm content to have made goal for today, and added some more make up to Tuesday.

also, it's going a bit more smoothly.
edited to add:

music: Devotchka, Charlotte Mittnacht

day 6, part the first: 1243

ooh this one has been pulling teeth today! Had wanted to reach my day goal this morning, so that anything on the train or tonight would be catchup for Friday or Tuesday. But I'm still 400 down and I need to get ready. Must put butt in seat again for 20 minutes before I leave. Maybe knock out a description or two.

day 5: 0

Had to work late.

Bah, humbug.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

day 4: 1727

yet another point of view character. Lots o' backstory.

It's fun but as usual, I have no idea where it will lead.

Having fun with really overblown prose.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

day 3: 1867

some tonight, some longhand during the day.

longhand is slow. Slower than I remembered even.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

day 1: 1833 words; day 2: 562 words

Today (day 2) is notable because:
- I wrote even though I was busy and wasn't home til late;
- I wrote in longhand on the train. Gave me a good sense of how much I can do handwritten.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Camp Nanowrimo

Well here we go, starting another OLL journey, let's see how far I get on this one.

CampNaNoWriMo August, here I come.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

day 12, 32 pages

I'm behind, but I'm trying not to give up.

Should be at 40 pages today.

since my goal is to just become more fluent (no pun intended) with dialogue, the whole thing appears to be an exercise in nonsense.

which suits me just fine.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day 10, 26 pages

Well, I missed quite a few days.

I'm having fun writing this, but I have to admit that I don't really know what it's about. That, and it's more than a little bit ridiculous.

But it's fun so far.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Script Frenzy - 5 pages

Well, let's see if I can do this one.

I just wrote 5 pages of dialogue about the fact that I don't know what to write.

Finally got a setting. Maybe some characters.

Had fun.