Tag Archives: Fiction

What’s with the crickets?

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The final chapter has been dealt with, and I’m done. Walking away from the book. I can do no more! I’m happier with this ending so I’m glad I decided to rework it. There’s more of a finality to it than my first attempt which I like. Now I need some readers. Anyone up for it?

*Crickets chirping*

Oh, it’s like that? I’m not surprised. That’s fine. I have back up plans, which is to say I’ll make something up. I would have liked to have a few writers give me their take, but I’ll start with a few of my friends and hope someone says yes. Anyone?

*Crickets looking around awkwardly*

I think I need new friends.

C’est la vie!

I need an alpha…reader that is

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Okay, I’m almost done with my rewrites. That went faster than I had expected. Most of the changes happened in the middle of the book and there wasn’t a lot at the end that needed to be tweaked. I’m happy for it. I’m mulling changing the last chapter, however. I find that it’s not satisfying. It’s just flat.

For now, I’m sitting at 91,570 words, which surprises me since I’m not usually that wordy. I’ll get some feedback before I try to subtract from that total, though I don’t want to lose too much. I want to start looking for a few alpha readers. I desperately need some opinions as to whether the story works or not, what if any changes need to be done. I’m not looking for proofreading or editing work, just a general sense of what the reader takes away from it.

My feeling is I like the premise of the book, and I’m hoping my execution delivers. This all began as a short story back in 2012, which evolved to become that year’s NaNo. I’ve been tweaking it ever since. I’m ready to be done with it and let it out to the world. It’s part of me trying to let go. I want to publish it this year. I can do it. I will do it. I just don’t know how!

That’s okay. Let me work on the ending and if anyone wants to alpha read, let me know. I’m looking for no more than a couple of readers. You can either comment below or shoot me an email at joe@joehinojosa.com. Once I have that feedback, I’ll take your comments to heart, make any necessary corrections, then look for someone to proofread.

This is getting scary. Better not think too much more about it or I’ll get overwhelmed.

NaNoWriMo 2014: Day 30 – Limping towards the finish line

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It is day thirty of this madness and I’m limping towards the finish line. I slept only a few hours last night and now I’m wide awake, exhausted, and I think…, I don’t know what I think. Right now, I’m don’t know how to think.

I’ll give you a few facts first. It’s a little after nine in the morning and I have a total of 46,799 words written. I need to write 3201 words to finish. Then factoring in the loss of words due to trying to validate, I probably need to pad my word count by at least a thousand words.

I also had the great idea that we needed to have lasagna for dinner, which since it was my idea, I get to make. From scratch. No store-bought frozen crap. I’ll even make the sauce from scratch. The lasagna noodle will be from a box. I’m not so committed that I’m going to make that from scratch. Also, I don’t own a pasta maker.

Damn I’m tired. I should have written yesterday, and I had originally planned on making it to a write-in, but I went with my brother, my sister, and her two daughters to see Mockingjay Part 1. I’ll review it later, maybe. Then I bought some shoes. Then we went to eat at Fuddruckers.

But I surely can write about 4K words by midnight, even with my stupid idea to make dinner tonight. I’ll have to postpone my book review a few days, which bums me out. I wonder if any of this is coherent. It seems so in my sleep-deprived state.

Also I’m hungry, and exhausted. I want to sleep. I also want someone to hold me.

It’s almost over….

God help me

NaNoWriMo 2014: Day 29 – Oh crap, oh crap

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Two more days of this madness: where do you stand? I’ve seen many of my fellow Wrimos already surpass the 50K mark, and some others are way behind. Myself, I’m behind as well, but not too bad. I’m at 44,481, which means I lack only 5519 until I cross the finish line. That’s only 2759 words per day, though I could conceivably cross the finish line today.

Happily, I have today and tomorrow off. I’m going to spend as much time as possible writing towards the goal line. There’s a write-in in Lubbock that I hope to join, but that depends on me getting some sleep first and then waking up on time. Also, I promised my sister and brother that I would go see Mockingjay Part 1 later today. I really can’t wait!

So for now I’m off to bed, even though it’s only 7:20 in the morning. Until later this morning, have a great day. For my fellow Wrimos, you can do it!

NaNoWriMo 2014: Day 17

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Since midnight last night, according to my stats on the NaNoWriMo website, I have written 3516 words, bringing me up to a total of 28,541, and on par for the first time since day 11. I have no illusions that I will stay on par at this point. It’s been hell just trying to stay in the running, but I have. I will come out victorious!

Thankfully the last two days of NaNo will be on a weekend, and I currently have weekends off. As long as I don’t fall too far behind, I’ll be okay. Work is killing me. I like to write at night, and working the night shift is seriously killing my writing mojo. But it’s okay. It will be okay.

Breathe…

I went back earlier today and started reading from the beginning. I do that from time to time, just to measure how far I’ve come. There’s no way now for me to read the whole thing quickly, but it’s a way I can get a sense of where I started and where I plan to go. Here’s what I found so far.

  1. Character motivations have shifted since the beginning. That’s not so unusual for me. Once I get to know the characters, they tell me their secrets and then I know that I will have to make some revisions.
  2. The cast of good and bad guys is pretty fluid. What I mean, and this goes back to character motivations, that being good or bad is not cut and dry. One who I thought was a good guy revealed to me that he really has nefarious intentions. Another one, a baddie who committed an atrocious act against my MC, did so due to a misguided feeling of love towards her.
  3. No one person is wholly one or the other. Even my MC is not a total white hat. Sure she’s a woman who sleeps around for money, but she’s mostly a genuinely good person. Except that a desire for revenge has been awoken in her, a desire she’s starting to act on.
  4. The title of the book is The First Love of Giada Esposito. I know who she’s going to fall in love with, and they’ve already met briefly already, I just don’t know how I’m going to steer her to seek his help. There’s a vague idea, but nothing concrete. It scares me.
  5. Apparently I’m going to write a sex scene with Giada acting as a dominatrix. What the hell do I know about that? Maybe I need to find a dom to teach me a few things…. Or not.

I have to go now. Work beacons. So excited, or so exhausted? I don’t know. I just want to write!