A few more Questions and a Snippet
Aug. 9th, 2006 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneAnother good writing day. I think what's happened is that I've gotten over that "middle of the book" that everyone seems to be talking about. You know, the muddle. At least I hope so. I wrote as much today as I did yesterday and it was all fun and good and flowed well. In fact, one paragraph came out so well I felt the urge to put it in here as a snippet. This is Varis speaking to William:
“Wait,” I said, the anger coming through in my voice. I sighed in exasperation. “I grew up in the slums, on the Dredge. I don’t know much about how to handle all of . . .” I waved my hand vaguely, “this. All I know is that on the Dredge, there’s only survival. There isn’t time for anything else. Sex is usually harsh and rough and violent and often deadly. There is no love, no romance, no courtship. It’s usually over in five minutes and if you aren’t lying dead in the shit in the back corner of the alley, you pick yourself up and move on.”
Enough said. The last line is priceless. So priceless in fact that it took me 15 minutes to get over it and actually continue writing the scene. Everything I tried after that just sounded lame.
In any case, it feels like things are starting to pick up, the initial escalation until the end of the book. I know that at this point I can't really throw in any extra plot lines or anything, except for what's necessary once they reach Venitte. In other words, everything's in motion and Varis just has to ride the rest of the book out.
Here's the wordage for today, followed by a few more questions from the audience.
Vacant Throne
Gah! Why couldn't it have rounded that up so I could claim I have half the book done!
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ruhgozler It's good to know that successful writers have the exact same fears that I have. Do you ever get to the point where it's hard to even sit down at the keyboard? Are there strategies you use that help you? I've never gotten to a point where I COULDN'T sit down at the keyboard and write, although there have been days where I seriously wasn't in the mood and just skipped it. Usually it's because I've maxed myself out on the writing and I feel drained. Or I really don't know what's coming next and I don't feel like "fishing" for something. And I seriously can't write scenes out of order. I can add stuff after the book is done, but not write something from chapter 10 if I'm only really on chapter 5. But my brain tends to think during sleep, so usually if I just sleep on it for a day or two, it comes up with the solution and presents that solution to me and then I can sit down to write again. And those days usually produce more wordage than others, because the words have "stacked up" during the break. Usually good words too. But if I have an inkling of what comes next and just don't feel comfortable with it yet . . . I'll often just sit down and force myself to write it. I do this because it can always be fixed later, and because if I take a break too often, I might eventually take a significantly long break and just never get back to it. I don't want that to happen.
Best strategy is to just sit down and write. Whatever comes out, crap or genius, can be trashed or kept or repaired. I've dumped entire days worth of work (in fact, I did this in Cracked Throne, tossing out half a chapter during the revisions process AFTER my editor had seen it . . . and it wasn't a scene she had any problems with either). It happens.
endelarin What do you do when something (a character, technology or natural feature, for example) pops up in your novel and you realize you need to research it? Stop and research on the spot, or make note and move on, figuring you can go back later? Ah, research. I hate it. So generally I "fake" my way through it in the draft because I really don't want to stop and lose the flow of the narrative at that point. So I make up a bunch of stuff that sounds right (based on what little about the subject I probably already know) and then research it later and change whatever needs to be changed so that it's right. One of the advantages of Varis as a character though is that she doesn't know alot of the technical stuff, and since the novels are in first person, if she doesn't understand it, any mistakes I make come off sounding "in character". It's cheating, I know, but hopefully I don't make any mistakes. For example, right now I'm doing alot of stuff with ships. Building them, sailing them, fighting on them, talking about how to navigate them, and I don't know any of this, except in a vague "I've read a few books with ships in them" kind of way. I've bought a few books about ships since I ran into this, but haven't read them yet. But I haven't stopped writing. In the end, alot of the technical stuff won't be in the book because Varis doesn't need to know the details, but there will be enough detail so that (hopefully) the reader realizes that the characters around her know the details and they feel fine with Varis not knowing. And really, those details aren't necessary for the plot either, so why drag the book down with them?
But in short, I plow onward and do the research later.
Keep the questions coming!
“Wait,” I said, the anger coming through in my voice. I sighed in exasperation. “I grew up in the slums, on the Dredge. I don’t know much about how to handle all of . . .” I waved my hand vaguely, “this. All I know is that on the Dredge, there’s only survival. There isn’t time for anything else. Sex is usually harsh and rough and violent and often deadly. There is no love, no romance, no courtship. It’s usually over in five minutes and if you aren’t lying dead in the shit in the back corner of the alley, you pick yourself up and move on.”
Enough said. The last line is priceless. So priceless in fact that it took me 15 minutes to get over it and actually continue writing the scene. Everything I tried after that just sounded lame.
In any case, it feels like things are starting to pick up, the initial escalation until the end of the book. I know that at this point I can't really throw in any extra plot lines or anything, except for what's necessary once they reach Venitte. In other words, everything's in motion and Varis just has to ride the rest of the book out.
Here's the wordage for today, followed by a few more questions from the audience.
| |
49,500 / 100,000 (49.5%) |
Vacant Throne
Gah! Why couldn't it have rounded that up so I could claim I have half the book done!
ruhgozler It's good to know that successful writers have the exact same fears that I have. Do you ever get to the point where it's hard to even sit down at the keyboard? Are there strategies you use that help you? I've never gotten to a point where I COULDN'T sit down at the keyboard and write, although there have been days where I seriously wasn't in the mood and just skipped it. Usually it's because I've maxed myself out on the writing and I feel drained. Or I really don't know what's coming next and I don't feel like "fishing" for something. And I seriously can't write scenes out of order. I can add stuff after the book is done, but not write something from chapter 10 if I'm only really on chapter 5. But my brain tends to think during sleep, so usually if I just sleep on it for a day or two, it comes up with the solution and presents that solution to me and then I can sit down to write again. And those days usually produce more wordage than others, because the words have "stacked up" during the break. Usually good words too. But if I have an inkling of what comes next and just don't feel comfortable with it yet . . . I'll often just sit down and force myself to write it. I do this because it can always be fixed later, and because if I take a break too often, I might eventually take a significantly long break and just never get back to it. I don't want that to happen.Best strategy is to just sit down and write. Whatever comes out, crap or genius, can be trashed or kept or repaired. I've dumped entire days worth of work (in fact, I did this in Cracked Throne, tossing out half a chapter during the revisions process AFTER my editor had seen it . . . and it wasn't a scene she had any problems with either). It happens.
endelarin What do you do when something (a character, technology or natural feature, for example) pops up in your novel and you realize you need to research it? Stop and research on the spot, or make note and move on, figuring you can go back later? Ah, research. I hate it. So generally I "fake" my way through it in the draft because I really don't want to stop and lose the flow of the narrative at that point. So I make up a bunch of stuff that sounds right (based on what little about the subject I probably already know) and then research it later and change whatever needs to be changed so that it's right. One of the advantages of Varis as a character though is that she doesn't know alot of the technical stuff, and since the novels are in first person, if she doesn't understand it, any mistakes I make come off sounding "in character". It's cheating, I know, but hopefully I don't make any mistakes. For example, right now I'm doing alot of stuff with ships. Building them, sailing them, fighting on them, talking about how to navigate them, and I don't know any of this, except in a vague "I've read a few books with ships in them" kind of way. I've bought a few books about ships since I ran into this, but haven't read them yet. But I haven't stopped writing. In the end, alot of the technical stuff won't be in the book because Varis doesn't need to know the details, but there will be enough detail so that (hopefully) the reader realizes that the characters around her know the details and they feel fine with Varis not knowing. And really, those details aren't necessary for the plot either, so why drag the book down with them?But in short, I plow onward and do the research later.
Keep the questions coming!
