writing

Has it really been a month since I finished the first draft?

I’ve made good progress on my revisions, but not as much as I had hoped (the real story of my writing life, it seems.). I’ve imputed edits for eleven chapters and finished my complete rewrite of chapter one. The first two chapters got scrapped and redone from scratch with new scenes to better introduce the characters and plot. Chapter two is still coming along. It’s too much explanation of the plan right now. I need to add more conflict.

I’ve been waiting a long time to say that.

For too many years, I was “writing” a novel, when I really meant I was daydreaming about having finished a novel. At long last, I’ve joined the 1%, the percentage of people who start writing a book and actually finish it.

It feels good.

I've seen a lot of discussion on a few writer forums lately about frustrations over their endings. What do you do when you get to a point in your story --The End-- and it feels flat? Or your first readers don't get it? And the hardest question is: What do you do about it?

And if you think this post is about you, it's not. :) And not you either.

Unfortunatly, I don't have the answer, at least, I don't have it spelled out succinctly as a few guys I started listening to this week.

Well, I finally got into Nashlin's head and wrote nearly two thousand words before lunch. My break to eat was timed perfectly between the two phases of the chapter, with our heroes emerging from their escape and then turning toward their destination.

As a little Easter egg, I've named their destination after my critique group: The Silver Griffin. :)

Creating names in a fantasy world is both fun and frustrating. The name needs to sound both foreign and yet familiar enough to resonate. Add that to my dislike of fantasy names formed from random collections of vowels and consonants, it can be challenging to find the "right" name.

My tactic for character names is pretty straight forward: I use real if old and obscure names, lining up real ancient cultures with my own.

It’s after midnight on a school work night, but I just finished a chapter titled “Fearful Symmetry.” Usually, I work out my chapter titles to fit one or more themes in a given chapter, or maybe a play on words. This is the first time I’ve quoted anything from literature for a chapter title, but this seemed to fit too well to resist. I’m sure Blake won’t mind.

In spite of the play on words here, since the chapter takes place in a cemetery, it was the thematic relevance that made me choose it.

Now, only three more chapters to go!