Road to e-booking
Some of you may have heard that I’ve been working on preparing the Apocalypse Blog for being made into e-books (I’ve talked about it randomly on Twitter and Facebook). This is true! And despite all the recent delays and headaches I’ve had – which I’ll probably whine about on here later – I am making progress.
The current plan is to break the AB saga (340,000+ words) into three books, each of roughly 100,000 words. This fits into three story arcs: the end of the world; the sickness and the shamblers; and trying to find a new future (at some point, they’ll get proper names, but I’m still working on that!).
There will also be a prequel ‘book’, covering the entries that were made before the bomb went off, back when Faith’s world was normal. I wrestled with the idea of splitting this off, because I like the lead-in that this ‘normal’ week gives the story. It sets up Faith’s voice and some of the plot points that come into the story much later on with Matt and Bree.
However, because I am looking at offering the e-books for sale through Smashwords (with other possible venues later), having this week-long prologue on the first AB book might be counter-productive. The previews available on Smashwords always start from the beginning of the book, so prospective readers would have to get past the first 7,000+ words before anything apocalyptic happened. It didn’t seem like a good way to hook new readers, so instead, the prologue section will be Book 0 in the saga, and Book 1 will start with the bomb exploding.
To prepare AB for e-booking, I’m editing the existing posts, mostly tightening up the language and correcting any errors the slipped through the proofing that was done before it was posted. It’s interesting to see how my writing has changed since I started writing AB!
I’m also keeping in mind some of the feedback I received in AB reviews, particularly about glossing over events, and trying to rectify that where I can (where it fits into the story and atmosphere). As a result, many posts have been expanded, and some have had whole sections added in.
Because the e-book format isn’t as limited as the online blog, some events that were split over several posts have been combined into a single, long post. Hopefully they will flow better now! Other than that, the structure of the piece hasn’t been changed.
I’ve just finished the first editing sweep through Book 0 and Book 1. Phew. Final proofing and formatting to go, and the covers to sort out, and they’ll be good to go! I’m planning to get them up on Smashwords as soon as they’re ready (hopefully within the next few weeks), and then move on to Book 2.
Overall, I’m pleased with how the books are coming out. I don’t hate the writing (despite it being two years old now), and I’m still very fond of it! I’ll be proud to get them up and available for others to read. Can’t wait. Wish me luck!
Critiquing Fiction: Part 2: How?
Part 1 of this subject discussed why critiquing our fiction is a good idea. So now that everyone has checked their egos at the door and arrived with open minds, what next? How do we go about tackling this beast?
Firstly, it’s worth looking at the format of the feedback session. With online critiques/workshops, you don’t have much choice – text is the way to go. But in face-to-face meetings, there’s more scope for variation. Having been through a number of these, as well as running my own, here are my recommendations:
- Don’t read out the pieces. Unless you’re doing performance poetry (which is a whole different ballgame), I find this counter-productive. It it generally terrifying for the writer, even (and sometimes especially) among friends. Also, reading a piece aloud colours the listeners’ reactions to it, because the speaker is injecting their interpretation into the performance. This is heightened by having the writer read it out, because they know what they intended for it to say. For example, how they read could gloss over areas that other readers might struggle with, or add emphases others might not pick up. I prefer to get feedback on how someone read my work, rather than their reaction to someone else’s reading of it.
- Send the pieces out before the meeting. Give everyone a chance to read and digest the piece before the feedback session. Give them enough time to fit in a thorough reading before the discussion, without sucking up half of the meeting itself; it frees up more time for discussion. Failing this, five or ten minutes of quiet directly before the workshopping of each piece to read will have to do. It’s still preferable to having it read out!
- Don’t prompt responses before reading. When giving a piece to someone to read, don’t tell them what it’s about, what you’re trying to achieve with it, or any other such feature. Anything that might colour the way a person reads a piece will affect their responses; if you want honest, authentic reactions, let the critiquers read it cold. Share extra information after they have read the piece!
The most important thing for everyone to bear in mind is that offering a piece for critiquing is not easy. This is a creation of someone’s mind and heart, into which they have poured pieces of their self. Inviting criticism of their baby is nerve-wracking because you never know what someone will say. Approaching a workshop session with your piece in hand is uncomfortable at best, and panic-attack-inducing for some.
That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t criticise the baby – after all, that is why we’re here. But there are ways to make it easy on the writer, so that they don’t feel under attack with the floodgates open. (I’ve seen writers sit there like deer in headlights, trapped in the middle of a highway. It’s not fun!)
So, some tips about how to approach giving feedback:
- Positive AND negative. It is easy to forget the first one of these! Positive feedback is just as important as negative: writers need to know what they’re doing right, just as much as they need to know what to work on. Being able to point out to the group, “Hey, this bit here is awesome, I love the way the colours reflect the emotions in the scene,” helps everyone to pick up tips and skills to use (not just what to avoid!).
It also helps the writer not to feel bombarded by a lot of negativity. I know writers who have come out of a critique session with the firm impression that they are terrible writers, they can’t join two words together successfully, and should just give up (one woman joined my writing group after being put off writing for 20 years by a critique group!). Look for the merits in a piece and communicate them to the writer, even if you’re also pointing out a lot of areas for improvement.
Some groups formalise this by having a ‘shit sandwich’ approach: positive comment – negative comment – positive comment. It’s a valid approach but can wind up a forced if you’re not careful. I prefer not to use restrictive, fixed structures. As long as critiquers make the effort to point out what’s good about the piece, I’m happy! - Constructive. Yes, I know this is bandied about a lot. But what does it really mean? To me, it means more than just pointing out something as good or bad: you need to say why. What is it about a phrase that jars for you? What is it about an image that makes it powerful? Why does that action seem out of place for that character? The more context you can give for your feedback, the more useful it is to the writer. Go into detail!
Sometimes, you may not know the reason. That’s okay, but make sure you say that! Be aware that just saying, “That word doesn’t work for me,” is of limited value to the writer. Without an idea about why it doesn’t work for you, the writer can’t know how to fix it. Often, in this case, I find throwing it out to the group for discussion is a good way to find the ‘why’, even if I don’t know it myself. - Solutions. That should always be the focus of your feedback. This builds on the point about making your feedback constructive: you are there to help a writer improve his or her work, so do it! Offer suggestions, solutions, or maybe just options. Don’t just think about the problems: think about ways you might solve them. This will help with your own writing, as well as give the writer lots of tools to take home.
- Subjective. There is no black and white in writing: your feedback is always subjective. You are giving your opinions and viewpoints on the piece, and your phrasing should reflect that. “This is wrong,” isn’t a phrase that should be heard in a workshopping session. “I think this is wrong,” or “This doesn’t work for me,” are better ways to approach it (followed by “because…” and your reason, of course!). You are one reader, and it’s not unusual for a group to completely disagree about what works and what doesn’t in a piece. No word is law (except the writer’s).
The exception to this might be grammar, of course, which does have very strict rules. Bear in mind that that the writer might be violating rules on purpose, as part of the style of the piece or for a specific effect. Make sure that it is being done on purpose and is effective! - Bias. This is an extension on the ‘subjective’ point above. Everyone has their own viewpoint and opinions about things, and it’s often useful to know where these opinions spring from: namely, what your bias is. Do you prefer high-action sequences? Do you despise limp-willed protagonists? Do you love plot twists that have no warning or preparation? What genres do you prefer, and which ones aren’t your cup of tea? All of these things colour how you read and react to a piece.
Being aware of this and telling the writer will help put your comments into perspective. This is not to say that it is an excuse for the writer to ignore your feedback – far from it. “I read lots of romances, and I find this very dull,” can mean different things depending on the genre of the piece or if it is a romantic scene! - Offering. You’re not there to impose your will on your fellow writers. You are there to make observations and suggestions. Offer your opinions, knowledge, and experience to the group, and be prepared to be overruled. The writer may have many reasons for not acting on your feedback (see below). Consider your feedback to be a gift (as should the writer!), and offer it without expectations.
Got all that? Good. It looks like a long list, but it’s actually pretty easy to achieve! For group critiques, it helps to have a leader able to push towards that approach, encouraging positive comments, discussions about problems and solutions, and so on.
So, as a writer, what do you do with this deluge of helpful information? You’ve got piles of notes, possibly some copies of your piece with writing all over them, and a head buzzing with ideas. Here are some things you should keep in mind:
- You went to the critique group for a reason. Keep this in mind! Even if the feedback and rewriting is daunting, believe that it will be worth it.
- You are the writer. Just because someone has suggested a change, that doesn’t mean that you have to make it. It is your piece and should always stay and sound that way. Don’t let comments knock your confidence; they’re intended to help you improve. Even successful, professional writers constantly seek to improve their craft!
- You can’t please everyone. Trying to satisfy each and every critiquer’s wishes is a futile enterprise. That’s okay. A good rule of thumb is to try to please the majority, but be aware that you’ll always have people who just don’t fall within the bounds of what you’re trying to achieve.
- Every critiquer is biased. Try to know where they’re coming from with their comments and put them in perspective. Work out if they are your target audience or not. That will help give their comments context and help you formulate a response.
- Always have a reason for rejecting a change. It is tempting to disagree with (negative) criticism and reject it, because your baby is just fine as it is, lopsided ears and everything. If this is true, why take it to be workshopped in the first place? At the same time, don’t feel obliged to apply every change you get from a workshopping session. So where do you draw the line?
A good rule of thumb is to articulate your reason for rejecting a change. If you can articulate it (to yourself is fine; you don’t have to tell the critiquer!), then you probably have a good reason for rejecting it. Note: ‘I don’t like it’ is not usually a good reason. The critiquer took the time to read your piece and give feedback, so the least you can do is to have a solid reason for rejecting it.
Working out a reason is often a good analytical process to go through, as well. Why is that image important to you? Is that word really as vital as you first believed it to be? Is there another, better way to do this that might tick both boxes?
Another thing to do is to ask others’ opinions on the same subject. In group critiques, you can usually get this in the session. If the feedback is one person out of five, it’s probably an isolated case. If it’s three or four out of five, then it’s well worth looking into and addressing. - There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ piece. Give a piece to a critique group, and someone will find something to say about it, no matter how polished it is. Remember the third point in this list. Don’t try to make a piece perfect: make it better. That, at least, is achievable!
Phew. So once you’ve got this far, you should have an improved piece of writing, and hopefully more confidence when you next take a piece for discussion.
Having a piece critiqued or workshopped should be a valuable experience. I hope that all writers can experience it this way, and that these guidelines can help with that.
Good luck with your writing and your road to self-improvement!
Critiquing Fiction: Part 1: Why?
Over the years, I’ve done a lot of critiquing of fiction, from both sides of the fence: I’ve given feedback on others’ work, and given my work up to be considered. I know what I like and what I don’t like when it comes to the process. What works and what doesn’t. So here are my thoughts and philosophy on how to get the best out of a critique.
First of all, I don’t like calling it ‘critiquing’ (I have used it here only because it’s the term most often used for it). The word carries negative connotations, and this should not be a negative process. When I run feedback sessions in my writing groups, I tend to call it ‘workshopping’, because it is a closer reflection of how I like the process to run.
Many advice pieces on critiquing (workshopping!) fiction will say that the criticism should be constructive. This is good advice! I would like to go further than that, however, and break it down into a lot more detail.
Why do we do it?
This may seem like an obvious question, but I think it bears some examination. Let’s look at it from both sides of the process: the writer and those giving feedback.
Firstly, why does a writer bring a piece to be workshopped? What is it that a writer is looking to get out of it? It’s good to be clear about why you are asking others to workshop your writing, both for your own sake and to help get the kind of feedback you’re looking for.
There could be many reasons for asking for feedback, not all of which are good ways to approach the process.
Some bad reasons to bring a piece to be workshopped are:
- Acclaim. If what you’re looking for is a pat on the back and a thumbs-up, you’re not looking for a critique. You’re bound to either be disappointed or heartbroken, possibly both. There are plenty of back-patting societies around if that’s what you’re looking for.
- Confidence. Be very careful of trying to gain confidence through having your writing workshopped – that is not the point of the exercise. People will question what you’ve done. They’ll point out errors, disagree with things you think are perfect, and so on. You need to be prepared for that. At the end of the process, you may end up more confident in your writing, but you need to be able to get through it first! I have seen people driven away from writing entirely by a single experience with critiquing. If what you’re looking for is a way to gain confidence, see the bullet point above.
- Confirmation of perfection. There is no such thing as a perfect piece of writing; there is always someone out there who will find fault with it. Also, if you think a piece is perfect, what the hell are you doing bringing it in for critique? See the first bullet point. (I have seen people do this. It never ends well.)
Avoiding those, here are some of the positive, useful reasons to have a piece workshopped:
- Improvement of the piece. This is the crucial point of the process, and should be the focus of every critique comment given and received. More on this later.
- Improvement of writing. This could be any facet of the writing: style, grammar, plotting, structure, etc. There’s a lot of scope for comment here, so if there’s something specific you’re looking for feedback on, be up-front about it. There’s no point getting line edits on a piece when you’re still working on the structure and characterisation.
- Beta reading. Does what has been written make sense to a reader? Do the images and metaphors work? Is the reader picked up and carried along by the story? How does it feel? Is there anything that might trip a reader up or throw them out of the story? Early reader reactions can be very eye-opening and important when polishing a piece.
- Problem solving. If there is a particular part of the piece that isn’t working, perhaps throwing it out to others for ideas will help you find a solution. It can be a great way of getting past a hurdle you’re struggling with.
Ultimately, be honest with yourself about your goals and motives. Make sure that a critique is what you are looking for. Approach workshopping with the expectation that your work will be questioned, errors will be pointed out, and you may have to revisit things you thought were great already. Just remember that it’s intended to improve the piece!
Next, let’s look at why a person would be motivated to give feedback on a piece. Again, I’ll break it down into good and bad reasons.
I have seen a lot of people approach workshopping in a wrong or unhelpful way. Here are some of the factors in that:
- Competition. Writing is not a competition. Selling books/stories/pieces can be, but that’s not what workshopping is for. This isn’t about putting down someone else’s work to make yours look better. Workshopping isn’t about comparing the piece in front of you to anything else: judge it on its own merits. (One to be careful of if swapping feedback is one of your goals – it’s not a competition to see who can get the most/least comments, either.)
- Expounding knowledge. Workshopping isn’t about showing how much you know. Again, it’s not a competition; there are no winners or losers, and it’s not about telling the writer how terrible and stupid they are. Keep it relevant and useful, and note that ‘educating’ and ‘expounding’ are two different things. Also remember that you don’t know everything.
- Look at me. This covers both of the above, but also other situations where feedback is particularly slanted to allow the critiquer to show off. This shouldn’t be a factor for the writer or the reviewer. Workshopping is not about egos – please check yours at the door.
- Everyone should write like me. Hell no. That is not what workshopping is about. You are there to support and improve someone else’s writing, not shape their piece to look like one of yours. You may not even be the target reader for the piece. Be prepared to be ignored if your feedback isn’t relevant and don’t try to impose your opinions on others – offer them, don’t force them.
But there’s a surprising amount of good stuff you can get out of giving feedback. Here’s my top list of why giving feedback is a great thing to do:
- Support fellow writers. Depending on the setup, these writers may be friends, acquaintances, or just names on a website. Sometimes it may even be anonymous! I’ve found writing to be an incredibly supportive community, and the fact that there are critique groups around proves that. Every writer should strive to improve, and I think it’s great to be able to help them do that. It’s especially great when more experienced writers can help the less experienced.
- Learn how to critique your own work. Looking at other people’s writing in a critical way helps you to develop skills that you can then apply to your own writing. It will help you to look at your writing in new ways, and show you things you hadn’t previously realised you were doing. By examining others’ work, you’ll become more aware of what kind of reader you are, what you look for, and what works for you. This will naturally feed into your own writing, and you will improve as a result.
- Learn more about writing. Workshopping others’ writing will expose you to different styles. As with the point above, you can gain a deeper understanding of what works for you, as well as what works in general. On top of that, the kinds of comments made by the group will also feed into this: others will comment on things you hadn’t thought about or been aware of before. It all expands your knowledge and toolset.
- Receive critiques of your own work. It’s only fair that, if you want to get feedback on your work, you give feedback in return. It helps to motivate good and useful feedback from all parties involved. This can create a wonderful supportive environment if handled correctly. Unfortunately, that ‘if’ can be a big one – check the list above to see some of the pitfalls in this approach. Just remember to keep it supportive!
Lots of great reasons to get involved in workshopping or critiquing! Arriving with the right expectations is half the battle, and the better prepared you are, the smoother it will go.
So you’re all prepped and ready to go. Now what? Check out: Critiquing Fiction: Part 2: How?
Apocalypse Blog reviewed!
On the heels of a recent Starwalker review, a new review of the Apocalypse Blog has come to my attention. They’re just piling in lately! Whoo! Keep it coming, people!
With comments like: “The Apocalypse Blog is (or was) one of the better [zombie blogs]…” what’s not to love?
Thanks, ScaryTrue!
Starwalker on Top Web Fiction
So many updates lately! However will you all cope? (Assuming there are still people reading this, and you haven’t all given up on me in exasperation. Not that I would blame you.)
I was pointed towards the Top Web Fiction site by a Starwalker reader recently (thank you, kind reader!). I don’t normally check it, mostly because I don’t have a lot of time for that kind of thing recently*. When my kind reader emailed me, Starwalker was number 16 or 17. Out of all the superb worldwide web fiction listed on the Web Fiction Guide! That’s a hell of a complement.
I checked today, and Starwalker is up to number 9!!! On the Science Fiction listing, it’s number 3!
Wow. Just, wow. I am stunned, and so happy. This is unexpected. It’s just one of the many, many reasons I write, and why I love my readers.
I want to say a big, huge, extraordinary thank you to everyone who voted. I’m am honoured by your support.
* Note: I’m trying to do better at that stuff these days. Honest I am.
Starwalker: review happiness!
It has been a while since Starwalker was reviewed: there were a few when the blogfic had just started, which are awesome. Back then, it was shiny and new, just setting out in the world, like Starry herself. Until now, there haven’t been any reviews of the whole first book, though.
Then I found out that the lovely Zoe E. Whitten had opted to review the first book of Starwalker. How cool is that?
What touched me even more were the comments on the review. Colour me a happy camper.
Her review is also available on Starwalker’s Web Fiction Guide listing. Go check it out!
Marching on
Wow, it’s been three months since I updated here. How did that happen? So much has happened, but I haven’t had the mental time or energy to put together words for this blog.
There’s a lot I want to write about here. Perhaps I’ll try to do it in bite-sized pieces and update more often, and then there will be stuff on here again! How awesome will that be?
Some explanations are in order. Work has been crazy: we had a huge deadline and I was running around like a lunatic to make sure we met it. My work love me. My team are great. Sometimes, it’s just all so hard. We’ve learned some lessons and put some things in place to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. No more deadline for a few months, I can breathe for now.
Our state here in Australia flooded in January. It was a nightmare for a couple of weeks; now it’s merely inconvenient at times. It kicked everything out of whack, but it’s all spinning back into place now. Slowly. And a bit dizzy.
My health has not been great. The chronic fatigue is kicking my ass, and the meds that my doctor has been prescribing aren’t helping. I have to go back to him and try something else. I am fed up of having this thing drag at me all the time.
Starwalker is hard work. The characters are in a tough place (being captured my space pirates will do that) and I’m reworking a lot of stuff that I wrote back in November to be more how I really want it to be. There are a lot of balls to keep in the air – and in my head – so it’s definitely a challenge.
Not that it’s not fun – it is and I still love it to bits! But lately, it has been a struggle to pull together the wherewithall to give it that shine that I want. I have the best readers, though, and they are very patient with me. I’ve had to miss several weeks so far this year, something that I despise doing, but I’ve had nothing but support from them. Thanks, to everyone out there.
It’s March and things are finally calming down for me. I’m starting to grab hold of my to-do list and shake it to see what falls loose. I’m getting there, slowly, and looking forward to some time off next month.
Hopefully, soon, I can do a more up-beat post that has less whining about my life in it. Who knows, right?
Retrospective: 2010
2010 has been a strange year. Wonderful and frustating, with progress both backwards and forwards. I haven’t done many things that I had hoped and planned to do, but it hasn’t all been disappointment.
Achieved this year:
- Got Starwalker up and running, and completed Book 1. When I started it, I had no idea how much actual story I had to play with. I had 12 ‘chapters’ planned out and had only got through 6 when the 100,000-word mark arrived. The arc worked out nicely, so that became Book 1. Book 2 looks like it’ll only take up the next 2 planned ‘chapters’ (!!!), so it seems that I’ve got lots of material to play with for that particular story. Which means: yes, there will be a Book 3.
- Started some Starwalker shorts. Got some good ideas lined up here and the groundwork done. Some previews are available – now all I need to do is go back and finish them all off. Ahem.
- NaNoWriMo – got my 50,000 words done, and did some bewildering ML-stuff at the same time. My co-ML and I had some ambitious plans, added a few things in on the fly, and had a fantastic time. It was bigger and better than 2009, and it all went swimmingly. I was left feeling awesome, and completely drained.
- Creative Writing Group is still going strong. We had a hiccup in the middle of the year when our venue decided it couldn’t host us any more, but now we have a new home and it’s all looking good.
Things I didn’t manage:
- Posting Starwalker three times a week. I dropped it to one post a week to give myself a bit of a breather, and haven’t managed to get back up to three posts a week. Even with a pile of NaNo material to use, editing and sorting out the posts in time to get them up three times a week just hasn’t happened.
- Apocalypse Blog shorts. I promised to do them. I have half of one written, but just haven’t got back to it in months. I am disappointed by this, and I do hope to get back to it at some point. To everyone who has been waiting for them: I’m sorry. It is still on my list. Really sorry. 🙁
- AB e-books. I am most of the way through editing the first ‘book’ of AB, but various other commitments have got in the way. I will have to attack this again soon.
- Merchandise. My potential avenue for this is struggling to get off the ground, and it hasn’t happened. Delayed but not forgotten or given up on.
- Getting business cards and doing more self-marketing. I had hoped to put myself out there a bit more, get some AB/SW t-shirts and go to cons to spread the word some more. Hand out business cards and bookmarks. Still struggling to sort out the graphics/design for these, though. It is still on my list of things to do.
- WorldCon. Work interfered and I had to be here for a major deadline, so I couldn’t go down to the event in Melbourne. Poot.
- Novel edit/submit. Haven’t even picked it up. Part of this has been the weight of webfic stuff I’ve been doing, but it also needs something more. I’m not sure what that ‘something’ is yet, but it is percolating in the back of my brain. Once I find that elusive missing piece, I will go back to it, but it’s not something that can be rushed.
- Other random blogfic. Yeah, didn’t get to this either. Starwalker has sucked up a lot of my creative time this year, and the angel-based blogfic has a lot of prelim work needed before it can start. With my energy levels as they are at the moment, this one won’t get going until SW is well and truly finished!
- More writing tips posts. I haven’t been posting on this blog anywhere near enough, and with nothing like the amount of ‘tips’ posts that I had hoped to do.
Without trying to make excuses, I will offer some explanations. I think the main one has been my health – I simply haven’t been as well this year as I was in 2009. The CFS is becoming more of a problem, and while I’m seeking specialist help, I still haven’t found the meds that will help kick it back out of my way.
It’s like trying to think through treacle, only not as sweet. Exhaustion is a weight on creative thinking, and I’ve had to push hard to get through some weeks and create something entertaining, for me and my readers. I don’t like that the CFS gets in my way, but I also can’t deny it or pretend it isn’t there, as much as I’d like to. Sadly, this isn’t something I can do a lot about – no more than I’m doing already, anyway. Just keep slogging on, I guess.
The other major factor this year is my work. Since my promotion in late 2009, I’ve had to take on the management of a small team with very little preparation or training, and carry it through a number of changes. Everything has changed, from our deadlines, to our format, to our management, to the structure of the entire R&D department, to the company we work for (we got bought out last month). Between picking up all the things that we’ve done previously and making it work with all the new stuff coming at us… it has been stressful. And busy. And crazy. And yes, very distracting.
I’ve had good stuff come up too. I managed to pull together some threads of various plots and characters I’ve been tossing around for a while. I have plans for the Starwalker universe that will take it beyond the story of the ship. There’s the possibility of a whole offshoot into another facet of that world, and that’s exciting. One particular character that I’ve been playing around with for about 10 years now has morphed in just the right way to fit in. And there’s a plotline that almost got started back in 2008 in a different project that I think I can make work in Starry’s world, too. Plus, of course, there’s the villain shorts that I’ll be working on in the new year, too.
I should probably come up with a name for the universe, to tie all these pieces together. Hmm.
Another couple of ideas have also recently come together, marrying up another long-standing character idea with a previously-separate world concept, with some aspects inspired by other fiction that I’ll mash in for good measure. That one has some background work to go yet, but I managed to get some outline notes down during NaNo (when I was burned out on Starwalker and needed to bulk out my wordcount), and I know I’ve got enough plot for three full story-arcs.
In short: I’m not going to run out of things to write anytime soon.
I’ll post more about my immediate plans in my ‘what I want to do in 2011’ post, which I’m sure will turn up sometime in the next few days. In the meantime… 2010? You were hard work. You weren’t all that I hoped you’d be, but I had high hopes to start with. I achieved some of what I set out to do, and I’m not disappointed with what I ended up with.
Here’s hoping that I can climb a little higher next year.
Fiction flash: Possessions
I was reading on the train this morning, rather than writing (I forgot to charge the netbook last night, whoops), and as I got off, my mind started turning phrases over in my head. Sometimes, I just like to play with words and weave images, without any particular intent, just to see where they take me.
Today, the words wound up as a two-sentence story, and here it is:
Possessions
She spent money like water and gave her affection away for free. Her husband cried when the gunshot rang out and said, “Now, I have nothing.”
I always try to make these little stories have something like a plot, and to be more than just a quirky situation. It’s a tricky discipline but that’s part of the fun.
I like the way the characters came out in this one. It seems crammed with possibilities, and I think (I hope!) just the right amount of ambiguity. The only bit I’m not sure about is the title, but it’s the best I could come up with at short notice.
Monthly write-ins
I had so much great feedback on the NaNoWriMo write-ins this year, and so many people sad to see them stop, that I let myself get talked into running a write-in every month next year.
Clearly, I don’t have enough to do in my life already. 😉 But I’m looking forward to it, and it’s getting lots of interest even though it doesn’t start until January. And hey, maybe I’ll get more of my own writing done!
Things are looking good. I have the Nightowls set to help me edit the first book of Starwalker next year (and I’ll be giving them feedback on their novels, too), and I’m sorting through the stuff I wrote for NaNo this year. Book 2 is fun! Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to get up to date soon.
Anyway, back to the grindstone. Looking forward to next year, stuffed full of writery fun!