Results of Ruminations

As the (most likely) last post of the year (woot? It's kinda like, "Oh, last one of the year!" and then, when the new year comes, it's really just a continuation, so what's the hubbub?) I'll make this one relatively brief...I think. Today's writing went off well, then not so well, then embarrassing, then it's time to go home. In order: I got to the library pretty early, and the first chapter that I wrote came across all right. I'm not one hundred percent disappointed in it, but, while it began well, the chapter seemed to drag for all 2800 or so words. The problem came from the same issue that I really struggled with in Words of the Silence  (and I may have reference in an early post): I pack so much exposition into dialogue that I just don't know what to do with myself. I amn't pleased with the way that my chapters tend to do one thing or another--people either sit around and talk a lot, or they get in fights. Like, really, that's all

I wrote unexpectedly today, which is always nice when it happens. I have to admit, though, I would've preferred my typical routine to what I went through today. Because of scheduling hiccups, car troubles, and holiday hours at UVU library, I ended up doing my writing at the in-laws' house. Normally, I really enjoy being with my in-laws. They're incredibly supportive of me and mine, and my mother-in-law's a great cook to boot. But writing with the little boys scampering about is, generally, a losing proposition. Mix into that hectic mix trips down to the dealership (car troubles), skipping lunch (scheduling hiccups), and an overall difficulty in keeping my quiet corner quiet (holiday hour lamentations), it's a small miracle I produced as much as I did. Today, instead of progressing the story forward--which, after pausing over the Christmas weekend, now has a bit of direction--I decided to move back to the approximate middle of the story and give some extra detail

I'll be brief today: It was 'productive' in that I produced almost 3,100 words. It was a chapter that I am extremely disappointed in, and it marks the crucial juncture of having run out of track that I lay in front of the oncoming train and the oncoming train catching up to me. I have no idea where to go from here, and the conversation that my characters just went through for the last 3k words is not that worthwhile. This happens to me frequently. I remember this occurring during Words of the Silenced  when I sent the main character down south to investigate the scene of the regicide. It sidetracked by about, oh, six chapters I think, before I pulled it back and reasserted it. Then, in the second draft, I further axed the scene, shifting it from the south to the east and modifying other aspects as I went along. The current version definitely works better, though there are still some glaring issues with that book, few of which have to do with what I'm talking about her

Today and yesterday proved surprisingly productive in that I was not expecting to produce anything, so what I did put out was completely unplanned. Yesterday's work came thanks to a fortuitous double nap that the boys performed in the middle of the day. I had the tickling of a scene--nothing truly developed, and, because of that, nothing truly remarkable--that I had considered as being worthwhile adding in. I decided to provide a flashback for Nicomachus that stretched back all the way to when he and his brother, Dalinus, were young. Because I hadn't planned on writing, it wasn't rendered quite as well as I would have preferred, but I squeezed it out and slapped it in. Fiddling with yWriter 5 (my writing program of choice; see below), I dropped the flashback into an already overloaded chapter, thinking that it wouldn't make too big of a difference. After doing that, I immediately regretted the choice: The chapter was over  6,000 words. (I know giving a word count i

Quick report today, as there's a signing that Brandon Sanderson 's doing at Barnes and Noble nearby that I wanted to go to. Anyway, today was only 3,400 words, which is about average, though I've been so productive with some of the past few weeks that it actually feels a little shallow. Fortunately, I'm wearing my new writing shirt that I got from my writing group. See? So that makes me remember that 3,400 words ain't that shabby. I don't know why the shirt reminds me of that, but it does. Anyway, the exciting thing about the whole day was that I took the current problem that they're dealing with and put the conversation in a different character's point of view. (This is chapter 60 in the first draft.) See, I was listening to one of my earlier books on my Kindle , Words of the Silenced , and I realized that I had done something in the neighborhood of 7 straight chapters of pretty much just dialogue. There was action--the characters did things and

Nearly 6,700 words done today. This is about as high as I get, in terms of output--between six and seven thousand. I was only able to get this much 'done' today, though, because I had almost an entire chapter already written that finally fits into the story. I do that whenever possible, since I will write snatches of scenes--sometimes entire chapters--that occur chronologically later in the book than I am at that particular moment. It's not ideal, as it often requires a lot of tweaking to get the 'old chapter' to match up with the story when they finally merge. Nevertheless, I find it worthwhile. It often gives me a guide so that I can fit things together more smoothly. All that being said, I still don't know how this story is supposed to end. There's some really interesting analyses that I mentioned before; I need to do that more carefully with my characters and with the story. Once that's done, I should be able to see where I am going with this book.

There is a definitive finality to the last words of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : "All was well" (759). This is a finality that gives a positive echo to Hamlet's last words, "The rest is silence" (Hamlet V.ii ), the kind of echo that comes because the journey's result and its actual process are fully finished. The purpose of our presence in Harry's world is come, and there is no reason to remain. And yet, the Boy Who Lived lingers like a scar, indelibly marking those who traversed the 4,100 paged odyssey. The cicatrice is, like all the best always are, a double-edged souvenir; we seem to ache as much with the ending as we thrilled with the beginning. When the first humble words--written in the singular point of view of Vernon Dursley--dribble across the page, we have little to set this story apart from the rest. In fact, the series begins rather poorly, as many of the characters commence with their contribution by being stiff antitheses to H

I am kind of disappointed because today's writing didn't quite go the way I wanted it to. I had a great idea for a chapter that would've fit in--irony, character development, world building...in short, everything that a chapter really ought to have--but, when I was thinking about it more carefully, I realized that it wouldn't work at this point. The reason was simple: The character I needed in it was in traction, basically, because of getting beaten down a few chapters earlier. So...Euranthedes was unavailable at the moment, what with the fact that he's probably in a quasi-coma at the moment. The idea is still a good one, but I don't know if I'll be able to fit it in. Still, I put down 3800 words, which isn't too bad. My goal of 250k by April will be easily accomplished, I think, if I keep this kind of consistent output going. I'm quite hopeful that I can! Violence Today's chapter had a prison break out, which gives me two problems: Repetiti