quote:Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group. Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Feel free to update the NSG Work in Progress thread with your current projects. 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
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As for me:
Last Week's Goals:
MAGE STORM: Think about what else I could do with this story. Still thinking.
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE/THE VOICE OF PROPHECY: Setting up promotions on hold. Yeah. Between Smashwords and PayPal, there's no budget for promotions around the release of Beyond the Prophecy. (In fairness, I probably should have started making noise in those quarters sooner, too.) Now, I'll have to wait until Smashwords' next payment cycle and the budget will have to be for holiday promotions--maybe.
BEYOND THE PROPHECY: Promotions on hold. See above. Yeah.
WAR OF MAGIC (DUAL MAGICS Book 4): Build up momentum on the first draft. Not much momentum yet. I'm starting to think I need to take a short break from these characters and this story. Thinking about that.
MAGE STORM: Think about what else I could do with this story.
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE/THE VOICE OF PROPHECY: Nothing for this week.
BEYOND THE PROPHECY: Use social media to try to boost the pre-orders.
MAGIC'S WARRIOR (temporary working title of DUAL MAGICS Book 4): Build up momentum on the first draft. Or take a short break from it. Undecided.
BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING (formerly DREAMER'S ROSE): This story is starting to call to me. It might be what I need to recharge to come back to WAR OF MAGIC with more enthusiasm.
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Long hours at work have dampened the fires of inspiration, but the embers are still aglow. I've been jotting down scene ideas as they come to me.
Hopefully by next week I'll have a workable outline, but no promises. I need to put a lot of energy into my miniature painting in September so I can try and sell pieces at my local Comic-Con in October. That's going to eat into my writing time considerably. On the upside, it's still creative work that I enjoy. Posts: 745 | Registered: May 2015
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Last week I lamented that Seamus, nee Fred, had seemed to wander off into the woods. Well, three days ago I spied him peering at me through the trees. Standing with hands on my hips, I glared at him and demanded, “What the heck! What’s going on here?”
Whistling a jaunty tune, he simply winked and sauntered out until he stood in front of me. He grinned then said, “Milieu first, character second.”
And that’s why I had been stuck, unable to move forward for ten days. Seamus was waiting until I realised that Bartholomew Prinn was a product of his environment—his milieu. I simply could not create his character with enough depth until I could place him in a society with all its pressures, expectations and punishments for aberrant behaviour.
I think I’ve previously mentioned that I was considering making the milieu an advanced form of J-pop and K-pop. I’ve changed my mind. In creating the milieu of Earth 50 years in the future, I’ve moved the focus of political, economic, cultural, and social power and influence to East Asia while Africa has become the manufacturing powerhouse for the world economy. As for the rest of the world: Europe is a welfare state which relies on bespoke industries for income, North America is an economic wasteland whose only export is cheap tech-savvy labour who send their pay checks back to their families, and Australia is a holiday theme park to go and see the sights, eat the world’s best food, and drink the world’s best coffee.
After the Japanese bulldozed the Yasukuni Shrine and replaced it with one commemorating all the victims of the war (with the exception of 14 Class A War Criminals), a rapprochement with the rest of Asia took place. Three Japanese cultural motifs swept to prominence in the newly developing and coalescing Asian society: Manga, Animie, and Kawaii. Pronounced ka-wa-ii, it means cute, or the quality of being cute. Now I just have to try and avoid racial/cultural stereotypes as I create the detailed ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of this fanciful society.
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