• 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 accomplished my goal to move all of my written scenes into the scene spreadsheet. I still need to work on the scenes for act three since I have not thought much about that section. I do know how all of the characters involved with the story get together now so that's a start at least.

My goals for next week:

• Act One Cause / Effect Analysis

Now that I have all of my scenes in the spreadsheet I need to go over them and ensure that I'm using cause and effect to move the story along. I noticed last night that many of my scenes do not flow well because I do not have scenes to cause some of these events. This week I will go over the scenes for act one and ensure I have good cause and effect set up. This lack of cause and effect reduces my enthusiasm for the story in a away because the main character is merely following along with the story rather than creating the story herself.

I also hope to finally add a post to the Outlining Technique thread detailing how I'm using this spreadsheet to organize my scenes. I don't know that anyone will be interested in that or not but I ought to post it.

What did I learn this week?

I'm still learning that it is difficult to set goals with this outlining technique. However, as I continue to use it I see how I could have better planned previous steps. I'm hoping that once I get my outline complete I will have a better handle on the technique so that I can design a series of steps to guide me along next time.

I decided to twist the cliche, and I thought, Why not green hair?

At first I thought that is just silly, then you would have people with blue hair and purple hair, and that is just going too far.

But then I thought, this is a YA Fantasy about dragons and magic, there is no too far.

And then I realized that the whole green hair thing answers a problem I've had since the beginning of the novel that I felt was just an inheirent flaw and unfixable. My characters are turning into dragons, if you recall, and they had to prick their fingers to test their blood's color to see how close they were to hatching. Now their hair will change color as well as their blood, so there is no reason to stop and check their blood.

Green hair was the answer. Really cool.

Last Week's Goals:

Dreamer's Rose: Try a chapter or two in first person.
Did. Don't like it. Back to letting this one rest.

The Shaman's Curse: Get through those Self-Editing Checklists on at least the first five chapters, and the synopsis.
Nope. Didn't touch it. I really have to motivate myself for this one. I may have to make smaller goals to do that, at least to start.

The Ignored Prophecy: Revisions.
Well, I've started. I haven't gotten very far. But I have started.

Blood Will Tell: Evict those characters from my brain so I can put it away and let it rest.
Not quite. But I am getting there.

Next Week's Goals:

Dreamer's Rose:
Let it rest. First person isn't the answer. But my subconscious will eventually tell me what the answer is. I like this story. I just have to figure out what's wrong. It wouldn't fight me so hard if something weren't wrong.

The Shaman's Curse:
Okay. Smaller goals must be the key. I hope. Get through chapters one (already done) through five with the checklists just for characterization, pov, and dialog mechanics. Just that much.

The Ignored Prophecy:
Revisions. I've got them marked up. I just have to write them.

Blood Will Tell:
Let it rest so I can come at the revisions with a fresh eye.

Other:
I pulled out some older stuff. One is a novelette I wrote a while ago. It needs some work in the middle and some cutting down on the length. I've got another long short story that might actually make a novel. I need to try to plot that out and see if it works. I do have one short story idea that I could start on. And I should start trying to plot/outline the third book (still untitled) in the The Shaman's Curse/The Ignored Prophecy series.

Edited to add:
What I Learned This Week:
Two things.

• I don't like writing in first person.
• I'm getting a better idea (I think) about how to proceed with Dreamer's Rose. I'm reading The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (one of the books found in my inventory of the five bookcases). Horrible title, btw, we don't even find out that there is a curse until more than half-way through. She also has a damaged hero and something like the way she handles it, just telling bits of his past as they become relevant to the story, might work for me. Not exactly. I don't plan to tell the story completely from his POV and, at least at first, he doesn't remember how he got this way. But it's giving me some ideas. In fact, I just had one right now.
  

I didn't get to replanning Motes & Meddles... Something to do this week.

My goal: Work on first 20 of novel. I did.

Next week: Up to page 50.

I cleaned up some of the information that slowed my story and am losing word count slowly but surely. I sure hope there are places where I need to add.

I started writing this book a long time ago and have gone back to it occasionally for rewrites. I am still searching for the thing that completes it. That changes it from decent to good.

I like this story, but something is missing.