Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).
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Last Week's Goals
The work on this plot is moving very slowly. What slows me down is self doubt. I come up with some ideas for the plot but feel that the ideas are cliche or are simply bad. This novel is a character driven story so the plot should not be as important. However, I still struggle with this thing.
My goals for next week:
I want to continue working on this plot. I want to get a good idea for the storyline before moving on. I have thought of some good scenes for the book but those are mostly the character driven scenes for the book.
What did I learn this week?
I struggling with pushing aside the subconscious when analyzing my plot. I need to just write these ideas down and move on. I can always adjust the plot of the novel since I want the characters to be the focus. However, this has been very difficult. So, this is what I *need* to learn, now what I *have* learned.
--William
Goals for this week:
1) Continue TGS revisions.
2) Figure out my WotF submission.
3) Finish all the documents I need for my fellowship apps.
Last Week's Goals:
DREAMER'S ROSE: It's time to take this one out and read it through.
Not yet. 
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE: Have a look at the synopsis. Read it through.
Oh boy, did that open up a can of worms. There are parts of this that I don't like at all. Bracing for a rewrite of the first several chapters.
THE IGNORED PROPHECY: Make revisions as the chapter critiques come back.
Yes.
BLOOD WILL TELL: Work on the query and synopsis.
I've done a little work on the query and need to do more. I actually sent a couple out. Two rejections already.
SEVEN STARS: So I should write the parts I know and let the new ideas come to fill in the blanks.
Nope. Sidetracked by THE SHAMAN'S CURSE.
OTHER: I still need to work on revisions to Dragons are Forever, The Seeker, and Mage Storm.
I have made and am making revisions to Mage Storm, at least.
MISC.
Try again to install the router so I won't have that kind of computer problem ever again.
For some reason, I seem to resist this.
Next Week's Goals:
DREAMER'S ROSE: I think it's time to take this one out and read it through.
I may do this in between revisions on THE SHAMAN'S CURSE.
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE:
Start the rewrite of a good portion of the first half. The second half seems more solid to me. In the first half, some of the writing seems flat, maybe over-revised. And some chapters are just broken up into choppy little scenes. I'm going to outline each chapter as it exists and then either revise or rewrite. Some of them may require a complete rewrite. Others may be salvagable.
THE IGNORED PROPHECY:
I've got a chapter exchange going on this one. Make revisions as the chapter critiques come back. I think I need to go back and see if I can tighten up the first six or eight chapters. I may want to change where the story starts. I need to think about this.
BLOOD WILL TELL:
Work on the query and synopsis. Prepare to submit it again--and again . . .
SEVEN STARS:
I seem to be stalled out at the moment, so I'm putting this one on hold.
OTHER:
I still need to work on revisions to Dragons are Forever, The Seeker, and Mage Storm. I need to resurrect the critiques for the first two off of my old computer. I haven't got any excuses for Mage Storm. Finish revisions on Mage Storm and start submitting it.
MISC.
Try again to install the router so I won't have that kind of computer problem ever again. I know I've been saying this. I do need to just do it.
CURRENT STATS:
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE--23 rejections
BLOOD WILL TELL--2 rejections
"Dragons Are Forever"--2 rejections
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK:
I wasn't nearly as good a writer a year ago (when I finished the "polish" on THE SHAMAN'S CURSE) as I thought I was.
THIS WEEK
Metzgerhund Empire: I finally got back to working on the query letter, and I plan to have a solid result by this time, next week. Would anyone like to take a look at it?
(mainstream novel): I've got nearly a dozen audio files, covering two key points in the story, and they will be transcribed this coming week. I expect this novel to take a quantum leap forward once this task has been done.
(SF novel): I've been writing practice scenes to determine if what I've learned in my recent research phase will work well with the story as it stands now. The results have been encouraging, so I plan to do more of the same.
WHAT I LEARNED
Writing while watching ice hockey does not yield worthwhile results.
S!
S!
Goals for this week: Get my mojo back. I think I have to let go of this latent perfectionism and just DO something. Maybe watch a movie. That sounds do-able.
I did have a great idea for torturing my main characters in the sequel to Earth's Gate. The problem? They weren't supposed to be main characters this time. Minor characters from the first book were supposed to take over the real action. This next book is going to be long and complicated, I'm afraid.
Last Week’s Goals and Activities:
I didn't set any goals. Anyway, DeCo rested while I worked on short stories.
Next Week’s Goals:
Write for an hour each day. (Time writing for my blog, in a journal, on forums, and for short stories doesn't count.)
I'm not setting a word goal this week because my concern for details is keeping me from getting in the moment of each scene. When I'm working to a specific time limit, I can shut off my inner editor more easily.
This Week's Goals
The main feedback from my wife on the 1-page and the 5-page synopses is that they did a good job of summarizing, but they sound like summaries. I interpret that to mean they're too dry, and I'd agree. My challenge is to figure out how to write a more riveting synopsis.
[This message has been edited by Nagrom (edited January 31, 2010).]
quote:
My challenge is to figure out how to write a more riveting synopsis.
When you figure out the secret to that, be sure to let the rest of us in on it. I hate writing synopses.
Trying to focus and gain this week.
Hmmm lets see.
I've been pretty good about my 2K/day but I've put SF into a complete revision. After my vivisection of my novel it shed 45,000 words and has a lean new look. I have a trimmed up outline and plot draft that as OWASM noted, looks pretty close to the one I started with last spring. Hmm can you say feature creep?
So the second novel, Inbetween has taken a rest. It's snoozing. It's staying there until SF gets the new draft complete.
Standing goals: (that's easy)
-write at least 2000 new words each day.
-keep my SuperNoteCard deck up to date on structural and character changes for my current WIPs (SF and In between)
-Read and crit at least 2 shorts or 1/2 of a novel each week.
-do my grammar work (I've enrolled in a grammar refresher)
Last week:
-I critted 4 chapters of a novel and 1/2 of a novella
-wrote 2 deep back stories for two obstacle characters (helps with plot layers)
-I made my 2K per day partly by the backstories and now that I am rolling on SF again.
This week (1/29-2/4)
-Keep the standing goals (above for writing and critting)
-complete two more back stories
Let's keep it simple.
While I haven't finished a new scene.
I've gone back to the earthquake sequence in Heart of Silver. It was one of the gaps in my novel's progression that needed filling. and where I seemd to be having a bad case of writer's block over tha last couple weeks. I seem to have new ideas of how to fill that gap that consist of important things that help set the stage for what comes after (always good right?).
Now my only dilemma is over the effects of my MC's mind reading ability. I have two ideas going that seem to contradict each other. Help me choose! My MC is a doctor. One idea is that without the technology which shields him he shouldn't risk touching patients in shock as it will adversely affect him (an interesting obstacle in the way of him being useful as a doctor) Another is that he can use his ability to diagnose certain serious injuries to the brain or nervous system without the need for scanners or x-rays etc... to figure out what is going on.
quote:
Now my only dilemma is over the effects of my MC's mind reading ability. I have two ideas going that seem to contradict each other. Help me choose! My MC is a doctor. One idea is that without the technology which shields him he shouldn't risk touching patients in shock as it will adversely affect him (an interesting obstacle in the way of him being useful as a doctor) Another is that he can use his ability to diagnose certain serious injuries to the brain or nervous system without the need for scanners or x-rays etc... to figure out what is going on.
I'd vote for the first. The obstacle is more interesting and has more possibilities.
If I have to pick one of your two options, I'd go with the first one, too, but it's not obvious to me that they contradict each other.
If he winds up being able to use some type of shield, will it shield everything, or can it be focused to screen out the distractions while he tries to diagnose the injuries?
Also, it doesn't impact the option one vs. two question, but I'm curious whether he needs to touch the person for his mind reading. The story I just wrote has someone who reads and manipulates emotions. He needs shielding, too, though he doesn't require physical contact for his readings.
But I have repeated instances where he has lost the shielding devices and is hesistant to touch people in shock. And another where he uses his ability to relatively accurately diagnose a girl whose brain spinal connection is severed due to a head injury or broken neck. I'm worried it will look like a discontinuity unless prepped well. Since the mind reading is essentially the one piece of 'magic' I'm using in an SF story I really have to follow the rules I've established or risk breaking belief in the world I've created.
The shielding devices are rather small like mettallic postage stamps you attach to your temples. They block everything when worn properly. Of course the mindreaders know a trick to loosen them so they can sort of 'hear'.
The telepathy I'm working with functions as mere empathy/lie detection at a conversational distance. To really read anyone's thoughts or alter their perceptions he has to touch them the more the better. I think this would hold true for diagnosing the kind of injury the girl has.
Maybe the difference is that she's in a coma and not screaming in pain? I dunno.
quote:
Metzgerhund Empire: I finally got back to working on the query letter, and I plan to have a solid result by this time, next week. Would anyone like to take a look at it?
When it's ready, send it on.
I actually worked on it last night. I'm inserting a new character in the last half of the book so I'll do that first before working on some of the other plot elements. I'm sort of excited to do this. 1. It's a challenge. I've never done this before and it will change the plot as I move on. 2. It's like a shot in the arm of the creative process and makes me rethink a lot of the scenes and I'll have to re-draw some of the MC's character arc.
My goal is to have the new character in place by the end of Superbowl Weekend. Then on to plot rewrites.
I did, however, get deep enough into Chapter Two that I feel like the Protagonist and Antagonist are becoming clearly defined.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited February 04, 2010).]