Good Day, Bad Day

[jpskewedthrone]

So I wrote yesterday, but it was a sucky writing day. So bad I didn't even feel like posting my "progress" such as it was. Whereas today I feel that the writing rocked. This is the difference between writing a scene that you know has to be there but you have no idea what's supposed to happen in it (yesterday) and one that you know has to be there and you know exactly what's going on in it (today).

My problem yesterday was that the scene was necessary for the plot, but I couldn't figure out what the emotional content of it was. And as everyone knows, all good scenes have to do more than one thing. Without that emotional content, I felt like the scene wasn't working. I bitched about it last night through the magic of IM with pbray and we threw around some options for the main character's emotions at the time, which included strangling everyone in sight and taking a cruise to the Caribbean. What came out of it was that I realized that the plot reasons for why something had to be done meant absolutely nothing to Varis. She had to have her own reasons for it, or it wasn't going to fly. Once I realized that, and figured out her reasons, everything fell into place.

Which is where I picked up today. I think the scenes I wrote today are spectacular. Very emotionally motivated while pushing the plot forward in the background. I rehashed the scene from yesterday so I'm happy with that now as well.

So, overall a good writing day. I'm in that slightly euphoric state after writing a "damn good scene", only somewhat less than the euphoric state you get after completing the novel. I just feel like all of the characters in the scene today came alive, individually, and took the scene to places I didn't expect in a much more powerful way than I'd imagined in my head. Mmm, mmm, good. *grin*

Yes, I realize I'm hugging myself. Back off.

Words!!

37,125 / 100,000 (37.1%)

The Vacant Throne

PS--My editor will be happy as well, since I go into a little more detail about how the magic works. She likes this kind of stuff. And now that the world is expanding and we're seeing things outside of Amenkor, I can expand on the magic because we can see contrasts with the rest of the world.

Comments

[makoiyi.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it pays to clear the air, and paint the ceiling. :)

[jeffpalmatier.livejournal.com]

It used to be when I had days like you describe, I would get extremely frustrated, and feel like that day's work had been wasted. However, I finally realized that writing something you weren't happy with was just part of the process of discovering where you need to go. It'd be nice, though, if you knew where you needed to go right away, but it doesn't always work out that way. :-)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I hated them as well, but they're part of the process. You learn to trust that things will work out.

Still disheartening when you haven't figured out HOW it will work out though.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you had a good writing day. Remember, I'm still up for mass strangulations if you need a partner.

[doctodd.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I finally had a chance to read Skewed, so now I'm _really_ cheering you on! ;)

And I agree with Jeff up there. I've had many days too where I could only figure out why the plot was doing what it was doing by writing it.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

What, you managed to move, get married, AND read Skewed Throne? You obviously need some advice on what a honeymoon consists of. *grin*

[doctodd.livejournal.com]

Heheh. Well, I moved first, then got married, and then read Skewed Throne. Now we are scurrying around getting ready for the reception this weekend. The honeymoon will happen in February. We are going to China and Tibet for the Tibetian New Year Celebration.

Er, I mean I'll be going to China and Tibet to research locations for my next novel.

But don't worry. I did all my reading while she was snoozing. I'm an early riser and didn't sleep on the long train ride from LA to SF. ;)

[grimland.livejournal.com]

I agree with your editor. I love the science of the magic in a book. If I can't know how it works, than I want to know how the character personally interacts with it and I want to feel the ecstasy or the pain of "doing it". Congrats on writing through the scene and I'm jealous of Todd. I haven't had time to read anything lately. By the way, how can I get one of the word counter bar thingys?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I finally revealed my magic system to my editor at Norwescon this year and she was excited. She thought it was very original.

Unfortunately, I don't see how to get the actual mechanics of how it works into these books (the Throne books). I'm giving more details about the kinds of magic I have in my world, but not exactly how it works, why certain people are magicians, why their children may or may not be magicians (it's not a hereditary system), etc. Hopefully in the throne books you'll be satisfied with the character interactions with it (books 2 does alot of exploring in that area). And book 1 certainly should have satisfied you on how the character feels the ecstasy and/or pain of using it.

In any case, there's the weblink for the word counter:

http://www.zokutou.co.uk/wordmeter/

[doctodd.livejournal.com]

I liked how you handled it in ST. Varis doesn't seem the type to analyze the magic or think about how it works. It is just part of her life and she treats it the same way we treat the little voices in our heads. Its just the way things are. If the main char were a scholar or apprentice mage, I would expect her to dissect the inner workings of the magic.