• 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

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My goals for last week were to complete the characterization for my main and supporting role characters. I did not go as deep into that characterization as I had originally planned. However, the goal I had in mind would have been too much. I don't think I need to know their complete history in order to make a convincing character. I did complete their inner conflicts and I feel I have something that could make them memorable people. I did not work on my antagonist yet as I had hope to do. That character is next on my list and I am thinking about that character's details now.

My goals for next week will be to finish the characterization of my main antagonist. From there I think I will work on the character arcs so that I will have a basic understanding about how the characters change over the course of the novel. I hope that this process will provide ideas for scenes.

What I learned this week is to avoid over planning. I was spending so much energy trying to get every single characterization detail for my characters. However, I feel that (at least at this point) having a basic understanding of the character's desires and motives is sufficient to get started. I only need to develop enough history for the characters to get a general idea of how they became the people they are now. Hopefully this will be enough.

--William

I've been doing research on agents to submit to. I have a short list from the AAR website and I am continuing to look through other sources. And I have made a contact with an author who has offered to help!

I haven't sent out any queries, yet. But the day isn't over and I hope to send out one or two that accept e-mail queries, at least, by the end of the day.

I have done work on both the short, short synopsis for the query letter and on the longer synopsis. Neither will ever be perfect. No writing ever is. But they are better.

I did not get any work done on the short story.

I exceeded my goal on Book Two, The Ignored Prophecy. I'm actually working on Chapter 11.

New goals:

Keep working on finding an agent for Book One.

Continue polishing the synopses and Book One.

Get back to that short story and see if I can make something out of it.

Keep working on Book Two. I've got a couple of chapters coming up that will need very little change from the first draft so I would like to get to Chapter 18 by next week.

Book Two is now ready for a chapter exchange, if any body is interested. Here are the first 13:

quote:

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Vatar closed down his forge for the day, satisfied with what he had accomplished. It felt good to be able to work with iron and steel again after so long. He stretched and went to find his family, stopping to watch the children at play, chasing each other and giggling. Thekila came and put her arm around him, leaning against him. Her hands were still dirty from working in the vegetable patch. That was one part of Dardani life that she was having no trouble adjusting to. She loved working with growing things.

Vatar had to take a half-step, bracing both of them, as the ground beneath their feet gave a violent shudder. Vatar heard Earthquake! clearly in his mind. The shaking lasted only a moment, though it felt like longer.

---

The Ignored Prophecy is a fantasy, sequel to The Shaman's Curse. This one, hopefully, is going to play out like a mystery--not a murder mystery. The question is, just what exactly is happening to the main character. Strange things have started to happen and he knows less about it than anybody. Some things are relatively easy to explain. Others, not so much.

I started writing a little of one of the characters. I don't know if the segment will make it in the actual story. I'm not sure where the story will start and end yet. I may have two stories in this. I can't decide if the mother or daughter is the main character or if they each need their own story.

Oh yeah, and then there's that WOTF thing. Wow, haven't touched that story in ages.

I wrote some this week. I started writing an amusing (at least amusing to me) story with an overweight heroine. I've always loved stories about change. When I was a kid I loved the movie Overboard because I loved watching her clean the house and get the kids in control.

I didn't do much writing this week, just played around with character interviews.

I opened Eye of the World, just to read the beginning, and I started pulling apart Jordan's words for writerly advice. I'm gonna say eight minutes later, all writing advice put aside and I took over as a reader who loves that story. I finished the book and opened The Great Hunt, so I think my writing in going to go on back burner. I think I'm gonna have to read the whole series in anticipation for book 13. I may be out of touch for the next couple of weeks. Don't mind me.

My goals for this week (If I can put a book down), is to not ignore DF. Or CtD, or my new one which has no name, or the new one I've been world building for, or the one I came up with months ago, but never actually put a word down on.

I'm glad I could help. Let me take a moment to give you an idea of what I did that helped me in case this can help you even more.

First, let me say that I have the protagonist and a supporting role character who currently have a relational connection. I won't go into the details of this relationship or other aspects of the book so that I don't spoil anything in case anyone here ever wants to read it.

Second, I have done a lot of studying lately about how to make memorable characters and one thing that stands out is that they have mutually exclusive inner conflicts. These are desires a character may have but are mutually exclusive in such a way that the character can in no way obtain both of these desires. So, the character is in conflict (and tempted by events in the plot) to decide which of these desires to obtain the most.

So, when I worked on the characterization for this supporting role character I came up with some mutually exclusive desires that not only conflicted internally but against the protagonist's desires also. One day as I reviewed the plot and compared this character's inner conflicts I suddenly had the thought of this character doing something that would move the plot further. Again, I won't go into details because this has become a significant part of the plot. When I first came up with this idea my initial thought was, "There is no way this character would do this. Besides, I don't have any place in the outline where this would fit." Once I took some time to analyze this option against his inner conflicts I suddenly realized, "This character would absolutely do this and it makes perfect sense. I have to find a way to get this into the outline." Suddenly the plot was being driven by the actions of the characters instead of me beating my head against the wall trying to decided what *I* wanted them to do.

This weekend I started working on the same depth of characterization for my antagonist. I have only scratched the surface with that character but already I have inner conflicts that not only give this character issues but also affects the protagonist and supporting role character both. Never before have I put this much effort into characterization. I was in high school and early college the last time I wrote and I never thought about doing this. In short, I was honestly too lazy to take the time. Now, I am so glad that I decided to because my characters are giving me plot options that I could never have come up with by *forcing* the plot onto them as I have always done in the past.

So, I hope this helps you get an idea of what has helped me over the past couple weeks regarding plot. It's taking me away from outlining and actually writing the novel but I feel this is going to be so worth the effort in the long run. At least I hope so.

Currently, I'm in the middle of character building and reshaping the synopsis for my stories. I'm am working on my most recent novel "Hero League: Satomi's strife" which I plan on making into a 10 book series. I don't have a first 13 to show, but here's a paragraph summary of the story:

A very unlucky teen, Satomi Amaran, is forced to join a super, elite school for powerful fighters. While enrolled, he learns of the worldwide competition known as Hero League and enters the tournament. While traveling the world in order to qualify for the Hero League, Satomi discovers the existence of an evil god named Zendris, who is resurrected every few thousand years, growing stronger each time. With all the world’s super powers and elite schools after the evil god's power, Satomi is dragged into the center of the chaos; the key to either releasing or defeating Zendris. With the help of several friends he meets throughout his travels, Satomi faces the Hero League competition and the evil god head on.

I think the idea sounds very YA, and sounds very sellable. How much do you have written in this ten book series?

If I can just stay off the novel-reading, MMMO-playing, TV-watching bender, the ideas come. But ready entertainments and my hubby keep sucking me back in. I keep telling myself, when my son gets older... sigh.