• 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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Last Week's Goals
I did not do well at all this week. I may have written a few hundred words is all (not including the one blog entry this week). What I determined is that the most recent scene that I wrote may work better as the first scene of the next chapter. I wrote a bit more on that scene but I still have some thoughts that I need to put into it.

My goals for next week:

• Outline next section

I think I need to slow down a bit. Most of my problems currently exist due to a lack of planning. I will plan the next small section of this novel before moving on to writing. I get so eager to write that I don't put enough effort into the development of the story. Some writers can do that, write organically with a blank sheet of paper. That is not me.

What did I learn this week?
I don't know that I learned anything this week. However, I did have some thoughts on how to better organize my planning. I wrote a blog entry--finally--about how I can break my novel into more manageable pieces. I don't know if this will work for me or not, I'm still experimenting, but it's worth a shot. If it works then perhaps I can say that I learned this week.

Last Week's Goals:

Keep working on Dreamer's Rose. Finish chapter five and get at least half-way through chapter six.
Not even close. I realized I was avoiding working on this, so I had to rethink the beginning to a certain degree. Now I'm back to chapter two, but hopefully this time will work better for me. Sometimes you have to go back to move forward.

Work on the query letter and synopsis for The Shaman's Curse.
Nope. Bad. I didn't touch these.

I'm not going to look at the other three novellas I set aside.
Well, I did look. I was avoiding Dreamer's Rose, after all. And I did a little work on one. But, fortunately, I'm not obsessed with it, this time.

This Week's Goals:
Okay, since I did so badly last week, I'm going to try to make it easy.

Dreamer's Rose
I like the new beginning. If I can keep it up, I want to write two more chapters. That will take me to the end of chapter 3.

Synopsis and Query for The Shaman's Curse
I really hate working on these. You can tell, because even when I was avoiding Dreamer's Rose, I didn't do this. But I need to and then I need to start sending out queries again. Maybe if I target just a little time every day, I can do this. Yeah, let's try that.

The Fairy's Kiss A new short story I started while avoiding Dreamer's Rose. It's at just over a thousand words and maybe a quarter to a third complete (in first draft, of course). So, try to get another thousand words into it. (BTW, a fairy's kiss is the name for a type of marking on corgis, a spot of color surrounded by white on the dog's forehead. I have two corgis who happen to appear in this story. What can I say, the idea came to me while I was walking them. ) Worst case, I'm willing to bet I can get it published in Cardi Tales, the newsletter of the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club of Southern California. Not a paying market, but . . .

I'm still open to another chapter exchange on Book Two, if anybody is interested.

* Describe what you worked on.
I worked on my nearly completed novel "Worlds Collide", fleshing out bits that needed it piecemeal and beginning a synopsis and alphabetical list of descriptions for relevant terms so I didn't get confused on the world building I'd already done. Or worlds building.

* Set goals for next week.
I'd like to continue piecing my stranded bits of plot together, starting with going through and putting a big bolded DISCONTINUITY IN THE STORY HERE! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! wherever I find breaks. Then I'll whip out my synopsis and flesh out the plot for those continuity breaks so I know what I need to write.

* Did you learn something during this week?
Sadly enough, I learned that it's very, very hard to write inspiring "sure the world may look bleak and hopeless and we'll probably all die, but we'll fight for this and this reason because we're all just terribly plucky and I know we can win!" dialogue when you're depressed. I'm probably going to have to watch that Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers scene where Sam gives an inspiring speech to Frodo and then rewrite the entire section.

By the by, sorry for butting into this NSG thing without introducing myself. I'm Nate Jones. I've been writing for about 11 years now. It's one of my favorite hobbies, bordering on an obsession when I get really into a story I'm writing. I was pretty active on the Hatrack forums in...March, I think it was, and then I lost access to the internet and shelved writing for a bit. (By the by, Meridith, I think I promised to critique something of yours and then fell through. Can't remember for sure, but if I did sorry.)

I don't read much hard sf (if that's what your story is), but at some level, a story is a story. We can give a chapter exchange a try.

Yep, I was eight.

So... I actually did pretty good this week. I finished the edit for Dragon Fate chapter one and prolouge, and I gotta say it's looking good. I'm liking it. Hope chapter two doesn't take me this long to edit.

Goals for this week.
Edit chapter two, plot out a story for WoTF, and clean my house (not that you needed to know that one.)
Happy writing!
~Sheena

• I made a list of all the scenes in my werewolf book. Now I have to go back and determine character emotional development for each scene. Did not do. I realized I really need to do more research on this one, since it's historical fiction.
• Start scene tracker for witch book. I have to combine 2 drafts and determine the threshold, crisis point, and climax. This is where I had the most progress this week. I started combining my two drafts and made an executive decision (yay executive decision! I'm usually so terrible at deciding things--I ride the fence for as long as possible) about the opening of my book. I've started writing scene 6, and have some sense of the overall plot, though some of the "hows" are still hazy.
• Let WotW percolate (this should be easy!) Done!
• Write confrontation scene for TWOH.No, I got too caught up in my witch book.

  This week's goals:
  

• Continue plotting/ sketching out scenes for the witch book.
• Complete a scene tracker.
• Dust off a story for WotF.
• Write every day!!! It's been too long since I've approached this as a discipline.

  Challenges:

• My Executive Decision has the action start in the first scene. I'm afraid this will make the whole novel short. I mean, really short. 100 pages. I guess I'll just have to see what happens. Maybe the main plot will become more complicated.
  
• I am determined to outline this story, no matter what. Mostly because I want to try it out, see if it's any easier, but also because of all my stories, this one book most closely follows the 3 act structure, so I'm going to try to maximize that to teach myself about plotting with that in mind.
  

Currently, the synopsis is being critted by a few trusted people, so during that time I substituting the actual submitting portion of my goal with researching more potential agents. I done goodly.

Current: Continue my SF studying and researching.
Goal: no set word-count-based goal, just keep at it.

I find it amusing how I interpret physics text when I'm exhausted.

Also of note: based on the feedback I received from a few of my fellow Hatrackers, I've come to the conclusion that this novel's opening scene sucks. Actually, I already knew that. However, the comments showed me that I neglected to present one important piece of info to the reader. Duh on me.

Current: Continue workload on my "main project"
Goal: Complete the next 'section,' and start at least one more.

I didn't reach my quantity-based goal, but the quality of the work I performed on this task makes me very happy.

Oh...add to my list of last week's accomplishments: I made an important decision concerning my mainstream novel's order of events. Hmmmm...I told myself I was going to keep that novel shelved for a while, but, hey...my kids don't listen to me, so why should I?

UPCOMING WEEK

I should go light on my expectations because the upcoming workload at my "real" job is expected to be brutal.

Nah!

Current: Revise the "Metzgerhund Empire" synopsis, as needed.
Goal: Resume submissions. Echo.

Current: Continue my SF studying and researching.
Goal: no set word-count-based goal, just keep at it.

Current: Continue workload on my "main project"
Goal: no set word-count-based goal, just keep at it. No, this isn't a copy-and-paste error.

I did pretty good this week. I finally got to a point where my first draft of my novel actually meshed with my new draft, so I cut and pasted some scenes that fit with just a little tweaking. It was nice to have a large increase in page numbers with little effort, very satisfying.

Goals for next week, finish another chapter.

1. Write everyday:
I can't remember! I did get distracted by a smug of white out on my office chair that I swore I'd never seen before and wrote (in my journal) four pages in the second person. Not an easy POV and not one I'd ever used before but, to my surprise, it seemed to work. Can't imagine doing a whole story, let alone a novel, that way, however. Maybe a prolog. Oh, yeah--did a little work on the vampire book. The darn thing won't die!

2. Read research I've collected:
Didn't touch it. Don't care. Maybe I need a new goal.

I got all of Chapter three done and only have one scene left in Chapter four of Bitrazer.

This week...simple. Finish Chapter four. Write Chapter five.

What I learned last week that I'll apply this week - Write more talk less, and ignore idle office chatter.

Me: Not much to say.

There - that's better. Good to get that out of the way, wouldn't want things to get awkward.

My WIP - its an adaptation of a short story I wrote for a class back in College. It has morphed from a 8 page single-spaced short story to a 40 page single-spaced novellette, to its present incarnation which is over 60 pages and not even 1/6 of the way through. Its been my baby, in once form or another, for nearly 10 years now, although this is the first time in years I've actually given it focus and finally feel able to write it as a novel. Although I still can't, for the life of me, come up with a suitable title for it.

This past week I finished Chapter 4 and did some research for Chapter 5. The research has opened up new avenues for the story to take and have gotten me really excited.

Below is information on my novel-in-progress.

Current Working Title: RITN

Genre: Uh? Speculative/Supernatural/Paranormal/Romantic/Science Fiction. That’s my best guess.

(Very) Rough Synopsis: When a lonely orphan boy meets Corrina, the kind granddaughter of a neighbor, he becomes determined to integrate her into his life. Unfortunately, his life is full of generations-old secrets that could turn the world against him. Can she accept his strange heritage and destiny? Or will she betray his family’s secrets?

Status: Rewriting/Redrafting. (What’s the difference between these two terms, anyway?) I’d written about two-thirds of the novel before I couldn’t stomach any more. Parts of the plot were awful. Unfortunately, removing the worst parts left me with few useable scenes. I’m on the third chapter of the rewrite; additionally, I’m creating a new outline and researching historical and scientific details.

Other Comments:Is it annoying that I’m secretive about character names? The main character’s name is a bit embarrassing. I tried to change it, but he and his name came from a dream and my subconscious refused to accept anything other than what it gave me.

Did I accomplish any of these? Yes, almost, and no.

Next Week’s Goals
This is for the current week, right? My goals are to complete a new draft of chapter 3 and a plan of the setting.

Lessons Learned
Drafting and editing are activities that cannot happen at the same time. Or at least, they interfere with one another. This is a lesson I continue to relearn; for whatever reason, I continue to allow my inner editor to attack my creative side.

quote:

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Another lesson: Always give the cat a spare sheet of paper to gnaw on so he doesn’t eat working notes.

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The main character’s name is a bit embarrassing. I tried to change it, but he and his name came from a dream and my subconscious refused to accept anything other than what it gave me.

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Is it annoying that I'm secretive about character names?

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Not at all. As we used to say on a music board I occasionally visit, "I believe you and support you now." I'm the same way towards some of my own characters, and especially towards some of my story titles. Especially...

quote:

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...but he and his name came from a dream...

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One afternoon over a decade ago, I took half the day off for a dentist appointment, then came home to pick up my daughter to take her somewhere. While I was waiting, I fell asleep on the couch. In an instant, I saw an unfamiliar planetscape in the background, and an alien in the foreground. The alien said a phrase, most of it mercifully in English, that I've been attempting to recover and decypher ever since. The only word I heard clearly is a word that doesn't exist in any language (so far as I've been able to tell), and it will now be the title of my next SF novel.

The subconscious is a great thing!

S!
S!

Genre: Slightly futuristic science-fiction (although there are no aliens, space travel, or flying cars)

Chapter 14 of my novel has been edited; this one, as predicted didn't take me long at all. Yay action chapters!
And I got Mbs submitted at last. That makes five stories out and about.

Goals this week:
-finish outlining of new short story StM
-edit chapter 15 of Graveyard
-continue getting to know the markets out there, so that I have many options for submission for all my short stories if they get rejected by the first few places

I have similar issues with my current work. One thing I'm doing is to accentuate the conflict between two of my characters. For example, I have Male Character who wants to blame Female Character for the death one of his sons. This is a conflict between the characters but also within Male Character because Female Character is not directly the cause of his son's death (and deep down he knows this). He wants someone to answer for his son's death but the real person at fault is untouchable. As such, their relationship gets strained at times.

So, I add to my "plot scenes" the ongoing conflict over this issue. This conflict may feel like a subplot in a way but it also ties into the main plot.

Hope that helps.