• 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 as far as I could on the outline for my current book, Project: Hero. The final act is still sparse on details so I may need to set this one aside for a while. The story for this novel has changed so much and it still feels like the main character is merely floating along with the events instead of acting on her own. Very little cause and effect, unfortunately.

My goals for next week:

• Premise
• Theme
• Story Summary

This week I will start working on some ideas for another book I've been thinking about, Project: Life. This one will stretch my writing skills because it will require significant flashbacks. I have not written anything with flashbacks before.

I'm quite enthusiastic about this other novel. This new project is completely new and fresh, whereas Project: Hero was something I've had for well over a decade. I think that Project: Hero has been fighting me because I have some story elements that I refuse to let go. That could be why I'm having so much difficulty with the outline. I'm unable to kill my darlings on that one.

Starting something completely new will be a nice change.

What did I learn this week?

Not much. Perhaps I've learned that sometimes you need to work on something different. I won't know until I finish Project: Life, if I do. Here's to hoping.

Last Week's Goals:

Dreamer's Rose: Let it rest.
This time I failed on this goal. I think just possibly, I might have found the way forward. I've started tentatively writing and revising on this one again.

The Shaman's Curse: Get through chapters one through five with the checklists just for characterization, pov, and dialog mechanics.
Not quite. But I did get through the first three chapters. It's pretty tough slogging sometimes. Hopefully, I'm learning something and giving this an extra shiny layer of polish before it goes out again.

The Ignored Prophecy: Revisions.
I did. I did. And before I got to those chapters for the chapter exchange, too. Of course, going through it again gave me ideas for a couple of other revisions, but one of those would be a major change so I need to think through its ramifications before I proceed.

Blood Will Tell: Let it rest so I can come at the revisions with a fresh eye.
Yep. Finally got the characters to take a vacation.

Other:
Well, since I got (hopefully) rolling on Dreamer's Rose again, I didn't tackle any of this miscellaneous stuff. And I'm not sorry, either.

This Week's Goals:

Dreamer's Rose:
I'm going back through what I had, roughly alternating POV chapters between my two main characters, at least at the start. This is back to its original starting point--much later than what I was struggling with--and the parts of the male MC's backstory that need to come out will be brought in as I go. I still have some of that to work out. The new, revised first thirteen are at the bottom of this post.

The Shaman's Curse:
Go through chapters four and five with the checklists for characterization, POV, and dialog. Go back to chapter one with the checklists for how it sounds, interior monologue, and beats. I'm also playing around with the query again.

The Ignored Prophecy:
Let this one rest except for the chapter exchange. I think my revision idea would improve and tighten the story. But it would have implications that would run through the whole thing. I need to think it through.

Blood Will Tell:
Continue to let it rest before going back for the revisions.

What I learned:
I kind of snuck this in in an edit to last week's update. But it really belongs here.

• I don't like writing in first person.
• I may have found at least a partial answer to how to handle Dreamer's Rose by reading THE CURSE OF CHALION by Lois McMaster Bujold and seeing how she handled a damaged hero. My story is different. But the plan of attack just might work.

Dreamer's Rose, first thirteen
Lerian watched the little cottage from the shadow of a huge maple tree. He was all dressed in browns and greens himself, so he was sure that the woman and her daughters could not see him. He watched the three of them plant their tiny garden plot and go about the daily business of a small, isolated farmstead.

They were new come to this place and not used to such a life. What hardship had brought them out here? The woman’s clothes proclaimed her city-bred and used to better. A merchant’s wife or widow fallen on hard times, perhaps. She was not careful enough of her charges so close to the forest.

There were other men in the forest, rougher men, with less to lose. Well, no. No one had less to lose than Lerian did. But men who would take what they could lay their hands on.

THIS WEEK'S GOALS

mainstream novel: the word count per se has not budged in a week and a half, but the order of events and the character profiles are stronger than ever. I'm about ready to get back to the actual writing, so I expect a good word count.

Metzgerhund Empire: I've decided that my agent query letter sucks, so I'm looking to improve it. Since I've got no actual novel chapters to share, would anybody like to swap something they're working on in exchange for critting my query letter?

science fiction novel: the frightening part here is that my interpretations of how certain things exist aren't that far off from how the experts in the field theorize them to be.

'Infrastructure' (aka the Mass Cleaning and Reorganization Project): It's going well...although Ares, the family tabby, now hates me because I eliminated his favorite hiding places.

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK
The less sleep I get, the more incomprehensible my writing becomes. Even to me.

S!
S!

quote:

---

Metzgerhund Empire: I've decided that my agent query letter sucks, so I'm looking to improve it. Since I've got no actual novel chapters to share, would anybody like to swap something they're working on in exchange for critting my query letter?

---

quote:

---

BTW Meredith, I like the first thirteen you posted for "Dreamer's Rose." It hooked me.

---

I have a novel in its second review. This one is a tough critiquer, so I'm just taking the hits and letting the story sit. The reader is going to school, so the process is going to take a while.

My time was shortened on my POV conversion (Motes & Meddles) so I only rewrote about 15 or 20 pages.

I decided that one of my stories that I developed through Liberty Hall's Bloody August will be used for NaNoWriMo. I wasn't going to do it, but I didn't want the concept to sit for much more time before writing it out. I have about ten hours of outlining to do before I can start. Worldbuilding was completed during the exercise.

quote:

---

Started a new job in the last week, so I had less time.

---

I'm also starting to wonder how much time other people spend on worldbuilding. I've been doing it for about 2 years.

Next weeks goals
Finish working on the holy sites for each religion.
Find out if the book store has either of the two 'How to Write Fantasy' books I want.