ROW80 Round 1 - 8th Update

While I haven't got as much done in the way of adding word count done as I would have liked, I have nevertheless made some important headway on my novella. This has mainly taken the form of revisions to my outline and to what I had of chapter 1. I had already made some minor adjustments in response to feedback received from my writing workshop, but there was still a lot to be done (and there still is). I have started doing a more serious rewrite of this first chapter - including reducing the amount of characters introduced in this section and making them more believable - as well as adding in other bits that had previously been left out. It is now a complete chapter, though it still needs to be reworked. Chapter 2 didn't get much attention this week because I was labouring over chapter 1, so in a way I've failed one of my minor goals (I was hoping to have chapter 2 finished by this weekend).

Yesterday afternoon I discovered a major plot hole in my outline. I don't mean just a little inconsistency, I mean a gaping abyss of logic and reason so big I could probably drop all of Australia in there and no one would ever find it. Well, I guess it wasn't exactly a plot hole, but it was a clear case of a character only being somewhere at a certain time Because The Author Needs Them To Be. After throwing a bit of a tanty and indulging in some chocolate and energy drinks, I sat down and pulled my outline to bits, trying to work out how I could get around it. What I've come up with isn't perfect, but it's better than what was there before, and while trying to fix this plot hole, I managed to stumble across ideas/solutions for other, smaller plot holes (as well as discovering/introducing new ones :| *sigh*).

In light of the work I have undergone revising my outline and beginning to rewrite my first chapter, I have definitely decided to aim to get three chapters finished, and only to attempt the fourth if I have extra time at the end. I suppose I could possibly get four chapters done, but they would be rushed, and the quality would no doubt suffer; I'd rather get a bit less of it done but have it to a higher standard.

As usual, here is Judgemental Dog guilt-tripping me into writing:


To see how the other ROW80 participants are going, click here.

P.S. My Doctor Who sonic screwdriver keyring torch arrived on Friday. If I said I hadn't been pretending to unlock my car with it, I'd be lying ^_^

A Note on Writing Journals

Something else I found during my late night cupboard-ransacking a short time ago was the corpses of several writing journals from TAFE.

In a few of our classes, we were asked to keep a journal. In it, we were to write down or thoughts and ideas, goals for writing, notes for our stories or poetry and anything else we could think of. If I remember rightly, the class was evenly split; half were in favour of keeping a writing journal, while the other half felt that their energy could be better spent elsewhere.

I belonged to the latter half. As much as I wanted to be organised enough to keep a journal, every attempt I made to do so lasted no more than a few days. I think the closest I ever got to keeping a journal was having a large Cadbury chocolate tin stuffed with wads and wads of random papers - including notepad pages, shopping receipts and restaurant serviettes - upon which I had scrawled various scenes and ideas for my multitude of novels. Usually when I had an idea for something, I would write it down straight away. If I saw a scene in my mind, I had to get it down there and then, not just write a few notes about it and then do the rest later (and yes, this frequently interfered with such activities as eating, sleeping and doing homework). I also tend to get a bit fussy with keeping things in order, so the idea of writing something down, only to realise that I should have written something else before it, grated at me (yes, I have been described - somewhat accurately - as being anally retentive about these things haha). Having loose sheets jammed into a tin allowed me to organise things in whatever order I liked.

I don't know... Maybe I was going about keeping a writing journal the wrong way. Perhaps other writers have other methods that make them more successful with it. I can see the value in them, but I just was never able to make them work.

How about the other writers out there? Writing journals, yay or nay? How do you think they help or hinder you in your own writing?

P.S. I have just begun an exercise book, in which I make a summary of all notes from workshopping feedback on each chapter as I workshop it, as well as ideas for changes. I'm hoping that having all the notes in one place will make it easier to work from. But we'll see how long I keep it going for...

The Judgemental Dog Chronicles - Volume 1

Because I like taking photos of my dog (much to his dismay), and because I like wasting time in Photoshop captioning things, I thought I would give Judgemental Dog (a.k.a. Rex) his own post, in which all of his LolDog-esque appearances from my blog posts could be brought together in harmony (or some sentimental rubbish like that). Many a time he has provided helpful comments/threats to writers around the world. Perhaps he will inspire/intimidate other writers into getting more work done :)

And for those who want some Judgemental Dog love in the social media world, your favourite condescending canine is on Facebook and Twitter! You can Follow him here, or Like him here.
























The adventures of Judgemental Dog continue in Round 2.

ROW80 Round 1 - 7th Update

As predicted in my last update, not much progress was made on the writing front this week. However, I did have some fun catching up with some friends for barbecues and DVD-watching sessions (yes, I occasionally DO leave my lair and brave the sunlight to socialise), so the time wasn't entirely wasted. I've also continued working my way through the Sherlock Holmes books, and though they are an entirely different genre and style to my own works (and to the books I normally read), I am finding them quite engaging, and they seem to be helping to kick my creativity back into gear.

I also ordered myself a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver keyring torch from eBay. Because it was just too awesome not to have.

Plus, I cleaned my desk. And trust me, this needed doing desperately, as I was starting to forget what the top of my desk actually looked like. I managed to empty out two drawers worth of junk, as well as clearing all the crap from the surface, so now it's all nice and ready for me to mess up again.

This morning (before going to a friend's house to gorge myself on grilled chicken and entertain a baby by making idiotic noises/facial expressions while eating said chicken), I sat down and wrote a bit more of chapter 2, as well as jotting down a few brief scenes for chapter 3. I also attempted to rewrite some unsatisfactory sections of my outline, but since I couldn't think of anything that was even slightly less unsatisfactory, I ended up leaving it for another day.

I have the next three days off, and most of the time I should have the house to myself, which will help me get a lot more done (I work best when no one else is home to annoy/interrupt me all the time). I am starting to wonder if it will be possible to get all four chapters for part 1 finished during this ROW80. Especially since I will be back at uni in just over a month, and working on my thesis - along with my normal subjects - will consume a lot of my time and energy.

I'm going to see how I go over the next week, but I may end up revising my goals for this ROW80. In my original goal statement, I said that I wanted to have the first four chapters of part 1 completed. If I do decide to adjust my goals, I will instead aim to just have the first three chapters completed. Not only will it leave me with a decent amount of chronologically ordered prose, it will also give me enough to use as a sample for the technical part of my IT/Multimedia thesis (which - without going into too much detail - is going to focus on eBooks).

On a side note; if anyone has links to interesting sites/articles etc regarding eBooks, feel free to leave them in my comments :) Though I have a rough idea of what I'm going to do, I'm still trying to define a more precise direction for my thesis, so anything that might spark a brilliant idea will be more than welcome.

Here is Judgemental Dog being lazy. The furry little hypocrite.

A link to other ROW80 check-ins is here.

ROW80 Round 1 - 6th Update

Went to the dentist on Saturday for a check-up and to get an abscess looked at. The dentist prescribed penicillin, which I have taken before with no problems. Upon arriving home, I took my first dose and sat down to write.

But the penicillin was all like "ha HA! Screw YOU, immune system, Imma be a cowboy and make as much of a mess as I can!" And then my immune system lay down like a little bitch as the penicillin kicked its arse. Thus I spent most of the weekend scratching and sneezing and looking like the victim of some horrid plague, and generally feeling sorry for myself.

Yes. That is how it happened.

So: This week's progress. As far as adding new words to my tally goes, I failed spectacularly. Yes, I did potter around with chapter 2, hoping to get it to almost-complete status, and I did manage to write a few more important scenes for it. But there are just as many important (and less important) scenes still to be written. I didn't spend as much time writing this week as I would have liked. I ended up going back and playing with my prologue and chapter 1 again (even though I said I wouldn't), so they're in a bit better shape than they were before. Still, I would have preferred to get more new material written (unfortunately after having something workshopped, I can tend to get a bit OCD about the piece, and I find it hard to leave it alone for a little while). I also got distracted by books (I found my old man's collection of Sherlock Holmes novels while raiding his shelf for something else, which I promptly forgot about anyway) so a lot of my spare time was spent reading instead of writing.

As for this week, I can more or less predict with 100% certainty that I'll get next to nothing done before the next check-in. With work, catch-ups with friends (some of whom I haven't seen for a while) and being forced into acting as the family's errand-bitch, I'm not going to have a lot of time to myself until Thursday. I still want to have chapter 2 finished by the weekend, but I will have to see how I go.

Possessed - A Lost Tuples Production

This is a short film made by myself and two uni friends (known collectively as The Lost Tuples) for our film subject last year, Digital Video Post Production. Starring The Lost Tuples, it was directed, filmed, edited and given special effects by the Lost Tuples.

The story has elements of some of those 90s occult/witchcraft shows, eg. The Craft, Charmed. We also wanted to incorporate elements of Eastern style martial arts fight scenes. Overall, we were aiming for a mix of 'dark' and 'cheesy', which I think we achieved fairly well :)



The Lost Tuples are: Rebecca J Fleming
Zak Ford
Jason Lochtenberg

Co-Starring: Ricky Shepherd

Software Used: Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Adobe After Effects

ROW80 Round 1 - 5th Update

I have been a naughty girl this week :)

I don't mean running around with a whip and a corset, or drawing all over the walls in permanent marker. Though I did do that a lot when I was little (drawing on the walls. Not the whip and corset thing. That would have been weird).

No, instead of writing, I have been watching DVDs.

I intended to write. I really did. I would wake up, go and sit at my computer, stare at my screen, then flick through my notes, and then stare at my screen a bit more. After an hour or so of that, I would come to the conclusion that I was just not going to be productive that day. So instead I got out some of my TV show DVDs (Firefly, Sherlock and Doctor Who), sat on my bum with a block of Cadbury and watched as Reavers were fought, crimes were solved and the Tardis was flown through various corners of the universe.

This morning, though, I started to behave myself again; I rewrote my prologue and some of chapter 1 in response to feedback I received from workshopping on the weekend. I also wrote more of chapter 2, which I think is now around 50% complete. Based on my goals, I have until Saturday of next week to finish it, though I would like to get it done earlier if possible. Unfortunately I didn't get chapter 1 completely written as I had hoped (as I said in my last post, bits of it were just filler for the sake of completing the chapter). I have decided that I will more or less leave it for now and work on later chapters, only returning to chapter 1 if I get some decent motivation/inspiration to write it.

Anyway, by the next check-in on Sunday, I'm hoping to have at least the main scenes of chapter 2 completed, leaving only the 'bridging' sections to be written the following week.

Here is Rex, putting the 'mental' in 'Judgemental'. And he expects me to take him seriously...

Click here to see other ROW80 updates.

So You Want to Write a Novel

This video has been kicking around on the Interwebz for a while now, but I thought I'd share it here, not just because it's amusing, but because there are so many 'writers' out there who actually think like this.



The more delusional the writer is, the less likely they are to be aware of it :)

ROW80 Round 1 - 4th Update

hmm... As far as getting new writing done goes, this week hasn't been much better than the last, with health issues still refusing to leave me alone (incidentally, doctors have looked at my MRI and decided that my head isn't likely to explode in the next 24 hours, but beyond that, they have no idea what causes the severe migraine/nausea/dizziness/passing out thingies I keep having). I did (sort of) manage to finish chapter 1. However, while some parts of it were respectable, other bits of it were literally thrown in at the last second so I could say I had finished a chapter; in other words, they're not particularly good hehe Most of these dodgy bits will be more or less thrown out entirely, with those sections being rewritten from scratch.

We did, however, have our first proper writing workshop meeting on Saturday, with two of us presenting work for critiquing. I was up first (the sacrificial lamb, so to speak) and I workshopped my first five pages of chapter 1. Aside from the odd person reading a fragment of my work and sending it back with some basic suggestions, this was the first time in more than three years where I have had the opportunity to submit a piece of writing to rigorous examination and criticism. It was a little nerve-wracking; being away from the workshopping environment for so long had me wondering not only if my writing was still decent (as most people seemed to think in TAFE), but also if I was still up to giving in-depth feedback on other people's writing.

It turned out to be a very productive session, both for the workshoppers and the workshoppees. Everyone there felt driven to write, inspired by the creative atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the other writers bring to the table in the future. I got a lot of suggestions for my own piece of writing; some issues pointed out were so obvious I wondered how they'd slipped by in the first place, while others were more subtle but still had a great impact on the effectiveness of the chapter. I have a lot of work ahead of me to improve it for its next incarnation. But this is a good thing. The only real way to make a piece of writing better is to put it in front of others, carefully consider the feedback they give and, where appropriate, make changes that reflect that feedback to bring the writing to the next level. I'm sure we all know writers who believe that their work is Perfect and that any criticism of it is Wrong...

Anyway... Time for this writer to have lunch :)

Judgemental Dog is always so judgemental:

I should probably take him for a walk so he stops guilt-tripping me...

(see other ROW80 blogs here)

ROW80 Round 1 - 3rd Update

Or... the Week of Fail.

Working extra hours over the last week has taken a large chunk out of my writing time. This, coupled with family and illness issues of varying severity, has taken a serious toll on my productivity this week. Not just due to time constraints, but also because of the general crappy mood all of it has put me in; I just have not been in the right mindset to write. Normally when something happens I can work around it, but when lots of things happen, I tend to throw my hands in the air and give up, which is more or less what I did this week.

Earlier today, in an attempt to force some productivity out of myself, I decided to set myself a small writing challenge. As all Australians (and some overseas people) would be aware, Queensland is being decimated by torrential flooding that has turned three quarters of the state into a disaster zone. Watching footage of it on television and seeing houses and cars tossed around in the water like bath toys is so horrifying it's almost surreal, especially when it seems that there's so little anyone can do about it. I decided I'd do my (albeit meagre) bit by donating $1 for every hundred words I write today to the Flood Relief. I ended up with just over 1300 words for the day. I know it isn't much - being a student, I don't really have a lot of spare money - but I guess every bit helps. And since that's more words than I've written over the rest of the week combined, at least it was beneficial on a few levels.

In my goals, I mentioned that I wanted to finish one chapter every fortnight, meaning that I'm due to complete one by the next check in. Well, I am quite close to finishing the first chapter, and I should be able to achieve this (provided everything doesn't go even more pear-shaped) by the weekend (or even tomorrow, but I think I said that last week and it didn't happen, so I don't want to jinx myself again :|). I have at least got the first five consecutive pages of it done, meaning I have something substantial to put before my workshopping group this Saturday, instead of just a wad of random paragraphs (which I am quite looking forward to - I've really missed the critiquing sessions from my TAFE days).

Here's my updated word tally:
Prologue - 804 (complete)
Part 1
Chapter 1 - 4,647
Chapter 2 - 1,704
Chapter 3 - 173
Chapter 4 - 0
Part 2
Chapter 5 - 95
Chapter 6 - 933
Chapter 7 - 1,777
Chapter 8 - 1,991 (complete)
Part 3
Chapter 9 - 852
Chapter 10 - 0
Chapter 11 - 0
Chapter 12 - 1,097
Epilogue - 1,373

Total - 15,812

So: Not as much progress as I was hoping for - I think all my progress since my last check-in was made today - but I still managed to make some headway, and I am more or less on track to meet my goals at this stage. And I cracked the 15,000 word mark, which I am quite pleased with, especially since they're 15,000 decent words, not the filler rubbish I pumped out for NaNoWriMo.

Anyway, I thought I should end on a positive note, so here's a picture of Judgemental Dog (a.k.a. Rex) watching TV:


Oh yeah, almost forgot... A link to other ROW80 participants' updates is here.

ROW80 Round 1 - 2nd Update

Since I was busy drawing this and this, and playing around with these, I haven't done as much writing as I would have liked over the last few days (and work eating most of my Saturday didn't help, either). In fact, I think since the last check-in, my word count hasn't budged. This sucks quite a bit, since I was hoping to have finished Chapter 1 done by the end of the weekend so I could email it to the other writers in my workshopping group - no chance of that happening now. I'll have to get it done by Wednesday at the latest so I can send it around and give people time to read it before our meeting next Saturday.

I've also realised I won't be able to workshop the whole thing anyway, even if I do get it finished. Our writing group has a limit of five pages per workshopper (for time constraint reasons), and my first chapter is already at five pages, and will most likely be around eight or nine pages by the time it is complete. Ah well...

On a more positive note though: A discussion with one of my friends about my novella last night posed a lot of questions about my characters and their motivations - some of which I had answers to, and some of which I didn't. Thinking about these things has given me a lot of material to build up my outline, especially for part 3 - and given that part 3 is the climactic point of the story, it's important that it is as real as possible so it has more impact. Even though I'm not specifically aiming to write that section yet, it's good to have the story clearer in my mind.

Now, hopefully I can get some writing done tonight...


Judgemental Dog is watching you...

Novella Cover and Title

Yesterday I didn't write because I was drawing. Today I didn't write because I was at work most of the day, and when I got home I was too tired and headachey to write, so I decided to muck around with the cover instead.

I already had one version (the middle one in the image below, with Orphea) and the title Dark and Silent Waters, but after drawing Zahtia yesterday, I thought I'd make an alternate cover with her (with a neon glow in the left and the original pencil drawing on the right), and with the other title I've been considering for the story, Astyrion.



When I'm closer to finishing the draft, I'll probably do a better drawing of whichever character I end up choosing for the cover (I know if a publisher accepts it I don't get to choose the cover but at least I'll have one for if I choose to self publish). I am also planning to attempt a real-life version of Orphea at some point. What I wanted to gather at this stage, however, is opinions on which sort of cover people prefer, and which title they like best.

Thoughts?

Illustration: Zahtia from DASW

Well, I had been planning to spend today writing (since I spent most of yesterday drawing my map), but that fell in a heap once I had an idea for another drawing.

Early on in the development of Dark and Silent Waters, I'd made a few dodgy sketches of Zahtia (my villain, the Ruler of the Underworld), but I'd never got around to doing a proper drawing, even in my usual Anime style. I had defined her personality (cold, uncaring, evil), but what she looked like was only ever a vague notion to me. When I had the idea for the drawing today, I started sketching in the Anime style, but three attepts later, I was unhappy with the look of it. So I decided that I would try a 'real-life' style illustration instead. This was the result:



It was the first 'real-life' drawing I have done for years, and I think my first ever attempt at a human(ish) portrait. It's not perfect, but I think it at least shows her personality. It took most of the day to draw and I did make some mistakes (luckily none that I couldn't erase or at least hide), and some of my poor coloured pencils are about half as long as they were, but it felt good to be drawing again. At some point I will draw Zahtia again, and I will have to remember to make her features more slender, elongated and feminine (she looks a bit too human in this version).

Speaking of drawing: I have updated my folio on PhotoBucket, which contains a selection of my illustrations (as well as some 3D work I did for uni). You can view it here, or click on the "My Artwork" link in my blog sidebar.

Productive Procrastination

As I was reading over some of my novella earlier, I discovered I had made some glaringly obvious mistakes. The first was that I had referred to the same body of water as a lake, a river and a pond (at one point, all within a few paragraphs). The second was that two towns that were five days' journey apart in an early chapter magically became only one day's journey apart in a later chapter. This brought me to the conclusion that I desperately need to draw a map.

I like maps, particularly in fantasy novels. We're being taken on a journey through a completely new world, so we need something to give us our bearings. And I think, as a writer, they can help the author avoid inconsistencies like the ones I've just mentioned. That being said, I'm sure we've all read fantasy novels where the first few pages are taken up by sprawling, world-encompassing maps, and where the characters in the story visit every single place on that map, seemingly for the sole purpose of... well, visiting every single place on the map. My map won't be like that. Though the world in which Dark and Silent Waters is set is vast, the events take place only within a small geographical area, so this area is the only section I will be drawing. I see no point in confusing the reader with details that add nothing to the narrative (I'm also too lazy to draw the rest of it if I don't absolutely have to, so it works out well for everyone).

UPDATE:
Many smudges, blunt greyleads and torn pages later, here is the map in all its completed glory:

Edit: The sea monster's name is Bruno.
(note: symbols used for legend were sourced from Obsidian Dawn)

ROW80 Round 1 - 1st Update

I was a bit dubious about my ability to stick to my goals for the first few days of this challenge. I was doing what I usually do; staring at the screen of my computer all day but doing little (if any) actual writing. However, today it was like someone was standing behind me with a cattleprod. After bumbling my way through a mediocre scene or two, I suddenly got into a rhythm and managed to belt out almost a full chapter of my novella. So far this puts me ahead of schedule in terms of my goals, in which I was aiming to have one chapter completed every fortnight, to get part 1 of my novella done by the end of Round 1 of this challenge. This is actually a good thing, since I am planning on workshopping chapter 1 with my writing group on Saturday the 15th, which means I need to have it completed a week earlier anyway.

To provide myself (and anyone else who may be following my blog) with a more definitive look at my progress, I have decided to show a running word count tally, both for my novella as a whole and for each chapter (I often jump between chapters, because when I try to write things in order I fail miserably). Therefore, my first DASW tallyboard is as follows:

Prologue - 804 (complete)
Part 1
Chapter 1 - 3,117
Chapter 2 - 1,704
Chapter 3 - 173
Chapter 4 - 0
Part 2
Chapter 5 - 95
Chapter 6 - 933
Chapter 7 - 1,777
Chapter 8 - 1,991 (complete)
Part 3
Chapter 9 - 852
Chapter 10 - 0
Chapter 11 - 0
Chapter 12 - 1,097
Epilogue - 1,373

Total - 14,117

Also... As far as these check-ins go, I'm not sure if I'll do them regularly. Judging by the ROW80 blog it looks like people will be doing them every few days. As I sometimes have a few days where I don't make much progress, I'll probably only do one of these posts every week (unless I do happen to have a really productive run).

EDIT: On a side note, anyone have any opinions on keeping the lengths of chapters uniform throughout a novel? Some of my chapters are little more than a page or two, while others are looking like they'll hit at least 8 or 9 pages. I don't want to pad out the short chapters for the sake of it, nor do I want to cut important stuff from the longer ones. Just wondering if varying chapter lengths is the sort of thing anyone cares about, since I would have preferred them to be about the same (with my outline, however, it's not going to work out that way).

Why do you write what you write?

Because I'm bored and I'm trying to seem productive without actually being productive, I thought I'd run a sort of writerly vox-pop-esque thingy about why people choose to write (or not write) in different formats. By formats, I mean novels/novellas, scripts, poems and short stories (I've probably missed some but I'm still a bit sleep deprived so I can't be bothered thinking anymore). I'm also referring only to fiction here, so things like essays, articles and reviews have been omitted. My reasons for writing or not writing in various formats are listed below:

Novels/novellas
I write almost exclusively in the novel form. It allows me to create whole new worlds to get lost in, to give these worlds depth and detail that makes them seem almost as real as our own. I feel that it lets me spend more time with the places and characters I create, so I get to know them better and in turn can write about them more convincingly. I also like how prose can be brutally straightforward or flow with an almost poetic rhythm (though I guess this is also true for short stories).

Short stories
Though I've written the odd one here and there, I generally find it difficult to channel all my energy into such a small piece. I have trouble coming up with a short story idea that holds my interest enough to keep me working on it until completion. On the rare occasion I do get excited about a short story idea, the plot points and characters start running around and developing in my head to the point where it turns into a much longer piece (exhibit A: Dark and Silent Waters). I like how a short story can pack a real punch, but sadly I lack the ability to focus on writing one.

Poetry
I don't write poetry for the simple reason that I suck at it. I also don't really understand the mechanics of modern poetry, in which having line breaks and punctuation in random places makes a poem. I have read a few poems where the rhythm is effective enough to hook me in, but for the most part, it just doesn't do it for me.

Scripts
I enjoy writing scripts, both for stage and screen. I have written some decent short scripts, but the few longer scripts I have tried my hand at ended up fizzling out, mainly because I just lost interest in them (this may have been due to the subject matter though). I like the format of scriptwriting since - like novels - it allows for more detailed scene setting, and I have fun visualising the actors and props and sets etc. However, unless I come up with an awesome film/TV series idea or get bored enough to turn one of my novels into script form, I doubt I'll see my name in Hollywood movie credits any time soon :P

So, how about the rest of you? Why do you choose to write, say, poetry as opposed to a short story? Or a novel instead of a script? Discuss, class :D

--I really hope I get some replies. Not just so I have something interesting to read/discuss, but because if I don't, it will look like I'm talking to myself on the Interwebs, and then I'll feel lonely :( *cue depressing music*--