Tag Archives: novel

Still at it

Posted on by
Reply

I’m nearing the end of Jasmine, and it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. I have had to delete a whole chapter, and a few scenes were eliminated or rewritten entirely, but on the whole, it’s been a fairly quick rewrite.

I have asked a friend of mine to read it for me and give me her input. I have to know if the story works, and if there’s anything that needs to be tweaked, rewritten, or deleted. I want to know if the characters are believable. I need to know if it’s a good book or not. I don’t want to waste time on a dud.

If I hear good news, I’ll move on to looking for someone to proofread the book. My real issue will be cost. I’m just a poor boy, after all, but I don’t want someone cheap who doesn’t do a good job. I need someone with reasonable rates, preferably with some experience and recommendations.

Then I’ll need someone to do the covers for me. I have absolutely no experience in making covers. What’s more, I have no artistic abilities. I’ll have to find someone at some point. I guess I can ask around. I’m sure someone can point me in the right direction.

Until then, however, I’ll tinker with Jasmine, maybe eventually settle on a permanent name for it. It was Unseen Obsession at one point, but I hated that name. Maybe someone can help me with that, too.

Dusting off the pages

Posted on by
5

d14d88e637f0d811563873bce2a41d1fI pulled out my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel this evening and began to work on it. It’s one of the novels that I’m most passionate about because I think there’s something there, a story I want to tell. It’s probably also one of the most personal for me because it deals with a hard break up of the inability to move on from a betrayal.

I work that way when I write. I write about me, what I feel, my pain and sorrows, my joy and elations. Sure, I tend to stretch and distort what I went through, making the story its own entity, but I ground it with my own emotions, telling a story that I think we all can relate to because we’ve all lived it in a fashion.

What’s kept me from even trying to publish this novel, though I’ve wanted to for years, is the opening scene. I’ve never liked it. It felt jarring and forced, as though I was trying too hard to write something impactful that it became off-putting. It didn’t work, and the more I worked on it, the worse it got. In exasperation, I cast it aside, working on other projects, consigning it to be forgotten.

But it wouldn’t let itself be forgotten. I had to tell the story, and I finally pulled it up out of the depths of oblivion, or rather I opened the file on my computer, if you want to be pedantic, and I stared at the opening scene until it dawned on me that I would have to write a whole new scene. Took me a few years to finally accept it. The first scene had to go.

In actuality, all that scene needed was to be rewritten and used as the first scene of the second chapter. I decided to start the story with the situation that sets the whole narrative into motion, pulling it from the middle of the novel to the beginning. That means I have to do a little more work to erase that scene from a middle chapter, but I think it makes more sense this way.

I have a long way to go, but I like the way it flows now. It feels better, the timing works for me. I may have to tweak it a little, but I could probably do that from now until eternity. I’ll soon let it go. For now, I think I’ll get back to it. I can’t wait to be done with it and have you read it!

Counting down

Posted on by
1

nanowrimo_2016_webbanner_participantI have no idea what I’m going to write about. Does that surprise you? It doesn’t surprise me, but it does have me worried. Maybe something will come around, but what if it doesn’t? What if this is the year I lose? I can’t lose. I have to write 50K words. I can’t fail!

NaNoWriMo starts on Tuesday. 30 days, 50K words, which is what many consider the minimum word count for a novel, hence the name, National Novel Writing Month. I think it’s madness to attempt it, but I can’t help myself. It’s a personal challenge to just sit and write with abandon, foregoing any thought of scrapping what I’ve written.

As I sit here trying to write this, I can’t help but wonder what I’ll write. I have no clue. Hopefully something will be sparked between now and then. Probably a million ideas will come and go, none holding my attention for long. Though I’ve always thought of myself as a pantser, I wouldn’t mind having some time to at least think about what I’m going to write, some vague roadmap that’ll take me from beginning to the end. I want a complete story, and not my usual collection of stories abandoned halfway through.

It won’t help that November is a horrible month to begin with. I work retail, at The Home Depot, and our inventory is on the 17th. On the 8th, I actually have to go to Oklahoma City for a Leadership Development class with the district team. Why did I agree to that!? Oh, and let’s not forget Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the start of the Holiday season. Let’s write a freaking novel! That’s not at all insane! I hope to be back to normal come Tuesday, and then it can go out of whack again as I try to pound out something somewhat coherent.

 

 

Vacation post #1

Posted on by
1

You remember me saying that I was going to spend my vacation reading and writing? Yeah, about that, ha ha ha.

I finally sat down yesterday and did a little bit of writing. I also wrote quite a bit today, and I’m raring to write some more. It’s hard to get started, but once I do I don’t want to stop. I usually only stop when I get myself stuck. I have a habit of only starting once I’ve figured out where to go next. It’s a bit of a hassle, to tell you the truth, but it’s moving me forward. I’m under no obligation to write anything, nor do I have a deadline to write it in. I’m a free man, writing at my pace for my own enjoyment.

 

Finally inspired

Posted on by
1

WritingI’ve spent most of the past two days in bed. I haven’t been feeling all to great, and I haven’t had much energy. I even called out of work this morning. My stomach was a bit topsy-turvy and I didn’t think work was the best place for me. I’m hoping I feel better in the morning, but for now, I’m trying to relax and hoping I start feeling better.

Other than doing as little as possible the past couple of days, I spent a considerable amount of time working on my book. I’ve written close to five thousand words, and I’m still going strong, finally finding the stakes of the story, the machinations implausible, but in light of recent events, not altogether impossible.

I just finished writing the scene where my two main characters meet, at a dinner party, where the host surprises his guests with a wild claim, one that seems improbable but one they admit can happen given the right circumstances. My main characters first meeting seems to go well, until it devolves towards the end.

Maybe it would be easier were I to plot the story out, but nah. I have my antagonists in place, the plot is moving forward, and soon things will begin to happen, pushing my characters together until….

The end hasn’t been written yet, except that I have the next book in the series already written. I know where it’s going, I know the destination of the relationship, and I know the fate of my characters, the destiny they both are chasing.

I’m finally excited to be working on this project. I’ve been reluctant to write it because I didn’t have an idea of what would happen, or why, but now I do. I’m figuring out the plot structure as I write, inspiration kicking in at the right time. All it took was for me to stop forcing the story along, and to stop writing long enough to find the hook.

I’ve passed 21,000 words today and I’m pleased with the progress. I still have a long way to go before I’m anywhere near done, but for now, I say I’m well on my way.