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Author Topic: NSG 1/28 - 2/3
WBSchmidt
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Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group (NSG). Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Feel free to update the NSG Work in Progress thread with your current projects. Although we can report on any number of things, here is a list of suggestions (suggestions welcomed).

  • What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
  • Describe what you worked on.
  • Set goals for next week.
  • Did you learn something during this week?

Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).

  • Writing on a novel
  • Characterization
  • World Building
  • Relevant research

=-=-=-=-=

Last Week's Goals

I got around 2,400 words written this week. I'm happier with some of the scenes than others, but I feel that I'm getting better at preparing the scenes before I write them.

Since I'm still learning my writing process, I tried something new this week. Instead of writing during lunch, which was not working as well any more, I decided to take that time to put more detail in the scenes I would be writing soon. Then I started getting up earlier and writing in the morning. With this method I am getting better details for the scenes before I write them. At first it was difficult to wake up enough to write but the scene I wrote this morning was well detailed and I was able to get nearly 1,000 words written in only 45 minutes. Plus, I'm quite happy with the resulting scene.

I'm hoping the more I stick with this method (detail at lunch and evening, write in the mornings) the better at it I will get.

My goals for next week:

  • Improve scene details
  • Write detailed scenes

Next week I will continue using this new process and see how well it goes. I like it so far and it's a slight adjustment to what I was doing before (write at lunch, etc.).

What did I learn this week?

Still learning my writing process. Basically trying new things to get the writing done.

--William


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Meredith
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Last Week's Goals:

On the Shelf:
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE
THE IGNORED PROPHECY
BLOOD WILL TELL

DREAMER'S ROSE: Keep working on the revisions.
Yes.

MAGE STORM: Send three more queries out.
No. Got sidetracked this week by a bit of real life.

SEVEN STARS: Keep working.
Very little.

OTHER:
Update my blog twice a week.
Yes.

Next Week's Goals:

On the Shelf:
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE
THE IGNORED PROPHECY
BLOOD WILL TELL
BLOOD WILL TELL will get a few new readers next month. Then we'll see about that one.
The other two are going to stay on the shelf until I can get them far enough out of my head that I can start a rewrite. I'm trying not even to think about them.

DREAMER'S ROSE:
Keep working on the revisions. I've hit the second area that's going to need extensive rewrite, so progress will slow down again.

MAGE STORM:
Send three more queries out.

SEVEN STARS:
Let's see if I can get this story moving, now.

OTHER:
Update my blog twice a week.


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LDWriter2
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I did some work on all three, that includes a tiny bit of work on New Mage.

I wrote the most on "Storm Born". My hero has been hit by a spell and thinks it sent him to another dimension where everything is some form of dirty pink and he is being attacked by a group of soldiers. They each have one of two faces that look mean and each one looks like someone he knows but he can't be sure who.

He doesn't realize it yet but pink is his ex-fiancˇ's-the one he just broke up with- favorite color.


I did some work on revising chapter one of "Bright Lights" .


But I have some new ideas. The next Bright Lights book might be called "Unrestrained" or that might be a better title for the next New Mage book where she finds the person who raped and killed her sister. It would also go with the opening I have in mind for that book. Or maybe a completely new book an average wizard who may be more than he seems who runs a horse ranch.



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enigmaticuser
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Hello, Thanks to Meredith for inviting me over, noob that I am to the forum.

A little about my current status, won't rehash my bio, but I've "finished" my sixth novel-length work but never been published. This is the first one where I think my skills have developed enough to really go for it, but I'm still looking for help editing. I can go over it a million times with my own eyes, but...doubt remains, maybe someone else would see more?

My fairly firm title is "New Arbor Day." It's hard to catagorize in a genre, so I'd say it's fantasy in a context of faith. The MC is on a roadtrip when he is confronted with a series of accidents miles apart that all bearing the same markings; nearly impossible collisions, no surviving witnesses, and almost complete obstruction of the roads. Making it worse, the accidents don't appear random, instead they appear to be designed to trap the motorists between them.

From there it evolves with the MC losing faith that there is any God he would recognize as comes to understand that the problem isn't local but worldwide, choosing to act in desperation only to be given a mission by a messenger of the God he doubts.

So that's the project that burns about 80% of my determination. On the side I'm starting on another.

To keep this from going too long...

Schmidt: I think that's a pretty good idea. I've only recently set about making a discipline of my writing habits, though for me since I'm in 'editing' mode I try to do editing in the morning and the new stuff in the afternoon...I think that's because I can 'guarantee' my time in the morning so I want to do the editing which is more predictable...but maybe it would be better later?

Meredith: Wow, you've got what four writing projects there? Aren't you worried that you'll just lose concentration on each of them? I ask because that's one of my worries as with my little time I'm trying to edit my old work and write a new one. But what else can you do, you don't want to lose the inspiration of the new or neglect the old?

Ldwriter: You too? I guess this must be a normal problem.


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Meredith
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quote:
Meredith: Wow, you've got what four writing projects there? Aren't you worried that you'll just lose concentration on each of them? I ask because that's one of my worries as with my little time I'm trying to edit my old work and write a new one. But what else can you do, you don't want to lose the inspiration of the new or neglect the old?

Actually, it's only three. I don't count the blog as that takes less than an hour twice a week.

It's not for everyone, but it is one of Kevin J. Anderson's 11 Tips for Writing Productivity. The idea is to have multiple projects in different phases. That way they take different kinds of work, different parts of the brain even. So, MAGE STORM is in submission phase, seeking an agent. DREAMER'S ROSE is more or less in revision (with occasional rewrites). And SEVEN STARS is just in the beginning of first draft. The idea is, if you get stuck on one, you don't have to bang your head on the keyboard or give up and go surf the internet. You can just switch to one of the others and so maximize your writing time. Three seems to be about my limit right now. KJA can do several more at a time.

The other three are currently on the shelf. THE SHAMAN'S CURSE and THE IGNORED PROPHECY will need a complete rewrite--but first I have to get them out of my head so I can come to it fresh. BLOOD WILL TELL will get some new readers in a couple of days and then hopefully go into revision phase to replace DREAMER'S ROSE. Hopefully, I will have finished the current edit on that one and be giving it a rest before going through it again to make sure it's ready for readers.


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enigmaticuser
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Meredith: How do you determine that you've edited enough for readers? Are these like "inkling" readers or audience readers?
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Meredith
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quote:
Meredith: How do you determine that you've edited enough for readers? Are these like "inkling" readers or audience readers?

My main goal is actually to try not to over edit. DREAMER'S ROSE has required some significant rewrites, though, since it's initial reader. This revision should hopefully be the last--or at least the last significant one--before I put it out for more readers. But since some parts have actually been rewritten, I'll let it sit and at least read it through before then. That read-through may result in some cuts, but probably mostly tweaks otherwise.

MAGE STORM is a better example of how I hope to work. First draft, then let it rest a month, then the second draft. That actually takes multiple passes because there are several things I know I need to look for. Then put it out to readers. Incorporate revisions from the feed back. Let it rest again. And then a (hopefully) final polishing edit. Possibly get another reader or two at this stage. Then start submitting.

[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited January 30, 2011).]


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LDWriter2
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quote:

Ldwriter: You too? I guess this must be a normal problem.

Do you mean working on more than one WIP? Or did I miss something and you meant something else?

But as to more than one project at a time. It looks like a few people around here do that. I have worked on six different projects at a time. Well not exactly the same time Even though a couple of times I wished for a laptop so I could work on two at the same moment..laptop on my lap and take turns working on each. Now I've been blessed with a laptop for very little money, but I have yet to really do that.

But I do write on one novel just at work-it was two but I got to the point with one I could let it sit-and the other two I work on at home, when I'm not procrastinating on this site. And I want to find some time to finish out four stories I have finished but need revising.


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