posted
No Novel Support Group this week? Not all of us are doing NaNo. And even those that are might want to check in and let us know how they're doing.
Here's William's usual opening.
quote:Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group (NSG). Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Although we can report on any number of things, here is a list of suggestions (suggestions welcomed).
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 =-=-=-=-=
I'll start off. I did pretty well this week.
Last Week's Goals:
Dreamer's Rose: Get through to THE END. Success!
The Shaman's Curse: Same as last week. Fail. I'm coming to the conclusion that this just might not be a realistic goal. I need to just work on the query and synopsis and get this back out there.
The Ignored Prophecy: Continue to let it rest. Easy one.
Blood Will Tell: Pick up the revisions. And it's not too early to start working on the query letter and synopsis. I'm working my way through the first set of revisions and really like how the story is improving. Technically, I started the query. But only just.
This Week's Goals:
Dreamer's Rose: Let it rest for a bit.
The Shaman's Curse: Stop obsessing about the check lists and get back to work on the query and synopsis.
The Ignored Prophecy: Start mapping out the revision to the first couple of chapters. I think it will tighten up the opening.
Blood Will Tell: Continue working on the revisions. Get to work on the query letter and synopsis.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited October 30, 2009).]
posted
LOL. I'm just lazy - I figured he'd get around to posting it eventually.
I am being a good little worker-bee and did as much Real Life Writing as I could this week. Have about 10-15K more of stuff I need to write within the next 11 days so guess that's my goal for next week.
I'm going to give NaNo a whirl this year, more to see if I can force myself to work consistently on just one novel project than because I expect to get 50K words in (see other writing commitment above!)
Lessons learned this week: 1) If I have something in my head, it's very hard not to sit down and start writing it. 2) In the above-mentioned case, it then becomes even more difficult to force myself to write the things I should be writing... :-)
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It's just Nanowrimo for me right now. What I learned this week:
The writing process is rather tightly linked with my sanity. Trying to short circuit that has thrown my emotions and energy into a frenzy. I had to talk myself through emptying the dishwasher yesterday, because I kept getting distracted. I ended up thinking, "Put the cup away. Don't straighten the cupboard. Go back and get the measuring cups. Open the drawer. This song is fine, don't go change the radio station, just go back to the dishwasher..."
posted
LAST WEEK'S GOALS My schedule at work this past week was, to put it simply, unkind to my writing exploits. I did very little work on my YA cover letter. My mainstream story was virtually abandoned. I did, however, manage to jot down some poem ideas that originated during my vacation, so all from a creative perspective was not a complete zero.
THIS WEEK'S GOALS
mainstream novel: I want to resume the momentum I established last week.
Metzgerhund Empire: Same as last time: my invitation to swap agent query letters still stands. I'll be glad to read yours, even though I still won't yet let mine be seen by anyone with a pulse.
science fiction novel: Still on target to finish my primary research phase by the end of 2009, and resume writing by January 2010.
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK Writing is more intertwined with my personality than I ever imagined.
posted
Wow, it's Saturday already. It has been an extremely busy week for me at work and home. I have not been able to even think about writing unfortunately. Thus, I did not get much in the way of goals accomplished, not that I really set much in the way of goals.
For next week I do have some thoughts on what I want to do, which I think is more than what I had last week. I want to do some basic brainstorming of ideas for the main character. I need to determine some good conflicts that will go against his primary goal.
quote:I am stuck on a scene, and I don't know why or how to get past it.
MAP, can you just sketch in the scene and move past it for now. If you stop pushing on it, maybe it will come to you. Works that way for me, sometimes.
posted
Hey there, guys and gals! I was wondering if I could join the Novel Support Group here...seems like it would be a good way to show some accountability with my own writing! Please let me know. Posts: 36 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Well, I'm a 27 year old college graduate who now works in dialysis, even though I majored in International Studies/Japanese. There's not a lot of calling for such things here in the panhandle of Florida.
I've been writing for a long time, though when I go back and read things I wrote from my earlier days, I shudder to think I thought it was decent. My current novel has been a labor of, seriously, the last 11 years in one form or another. A few months ago, I scrapped over 120K words and started over from scratch, updating the setting and the timeframe, revamped the characters, and FINALLY, just this past week I think I got everything straight in my head to where everything works out the way I want it.
Not really being the type to outline on paper (I was never good at such thing) I really try to get things straight in my head before I write. I'm trying to be better about documenting my ideas and what not (that's what I'm doing at this very moment...trying to fill in details in my little project bible). At any rate, I have a RL friend who is also an aspiring novelist so she and I pass things back and forth to critique and bounce ideas off one another, etc. The greatest thing I think about talking with other writers is that it really inspires me to write.
So....to stop my longwinded blathering, I'll just say that it's great to meet you guys!
PS: Is there anywhere I can go to see what your novels are about? I like to know what I'm cheerleading!
quote:PS: Is there anywhere I can go to see what your novels are about? I like to know what I'm cheerleading!
I don't know that there's any central place for that. Maybe that's an idea, though. We usually post what we're working on when we start something new.
I'm currently in first revision on an urban fantasy/paranormal romance with the working title BLOOD WILL TELL. (And I'm on here because I'm procrastinating writing a fight scene. )
Welcome to the group.
[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited November 02, 2009).]
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Hmm, you know, I never really thought about the fact that we don't often discuss the details of our various novels (genre, etc). I know some of us have first 13s or query letters up in the F&F for novels section, and some of us have traded chapters around, but it's not exactly easy to track all of that down. D'you think it would be worth setting up a separate NSG thread for that? Or just keep it in the normal threads?
Posts: 715 | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
Awesome. I hope I can read some of you guys' chapters sometime. I think it would be cool to have a central locale for novel information, for the record. Posts: 36 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:@Meredith Also, I see you have 100 different projects you're juggling up there! Even the thought makes me shut down in terror! Good for you though!
Not really. They're in various stages. I need to redo the query letter and synopsis for THE SHAMAN'S CURSE and start submitting it again. DREAMER'S ROSE is recently completed and resting before I take another look at it. I'm doing the first revisions on BLOOD WILL TELL and then I have a major revision to do on THE IGNORED PROPHECY, which is a sequel to THE SHAMAN'S CURSE.
I may report on all four of them, but generally, I'm spending 95% of my time on just one.
Personally, I like to have several irons in the fire. If I get stuck, or just sick of one of them, I can switch off.
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Still heavily outlining fantasy/thriller. Also editing APTW again. Considering mixing more fantasy and historical.
Posts: 3687 | Registered: Jan 2007
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I've done a lot of character building and research for my novel THE GYRE but nothing written yet. I was having trouble trying to make the magic work, but last night I had a breakthrough while reviewing some science mags. My main focus right now will still be WOTF but I am going to start up the novel and working on that when I can.
Background on the novel so my updates make some kind of sense:
THE GYRE originally was an epic quest set in fantasy, but realized a way to do the same story, but with a sci-fi twist.
It will be the main prot and four secondaries on their quest, every person has a minion/familiar and some magical components to their lives. With the switch to sci-fi it will now be off-world.
While I want a unique milieu I am working hard to make it more of a character novel. There are two main civilizations and story takes place after the self-destruction of prots homeland and his journey through the new one where he tries to keep the same the new civilization from destroying itself.
[This message has been edited by Dark Warrior (edited November 03, 2009).]
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I'm coming to the conclusion that this just might not be a realistic goal. I need to just work on the query and synopsis and get this back out there. 
