ROW80 Round 1 - 16th Update

This has been a busy week for me. Anyone who follows my pointless ravings on Twitter will know that I've spent the last few days working on my novella outline - again. A while ago I cracked it because I'd found a massive plot hole, and though I'd slaved over it for a few days to come up with a plausible alternative, what I had was still a bit crap. I had decided to leave it for the time being because I couldn't think of anything better, but I was never happy with it. And then on Thursday, while I was making paper aeroplanes out of other bits of my novella (don't ask), an idea struck me. It was something quite simple, so simple that I'm surprised I didn't think of it earlier (I think it was my writerly muse screwing with me). With a few adjustments, all my characters are now where I want them to be, when I want them to be there, with plausible reasons for their presence. The changes have meant that substantial parts of what I had written have to be rewritten or scrapped entirely; this is annoying, but probably better for it to happen now at 20,000ish words than at, say, 50,000 words. Based on what I've written so far, and my outline revisions, I'm also thinking that my novella may end up being a novel, albeit at the lower end of the scale (I'd estimate at this stage that it will end up at around the 70,000 word mark.

Though I didn't get chapter 3 completely finished, I have started writing chapter 4. Ideally I want to have my prologue and first three chapters completed and fairly polished by this time next week. I'm back at uni on Tuesday and I'm planning to use the first part of my novella in my sample prototype for my thesis, so that gives me more incentive (stress) to get it to a reasonable standard.

I've also more or less abandoned those two short stories I started a few weeks ago. I've kept what I wrote, but my inspiration for them kind of ran dry as quickly as it appeared (exactly as predicted). I may one day return to them, but they're pretty far down the priority list.

Judgemental Dog shouldn't get his hopes up:

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ROW80 Round 1 - 15th Update

On Monday I managed to show that my innate talent for hurting myself in idiotic ways has in no way faded; not five minutes after dropping a full frozen-solid tub of ice cream on the middle toe of my foot, I managed to trip over my dog as he snoozed in the doorway of my room, accidentally kicking the corner of my cupboard in an attempt to stop myself falling. Even the doctor admired my determination in making sure my toe was properly bloody broken :D Luckily it didn't require plaster, though, so I can hobble around as normal, just slightly grouchier than usual.

Haven't got as much writing done this week as I would have liked. I continued revising chapters 1 and 2, as well as filling in more bits of chapter 3, which is now almost complete (I'm hoping to have the first three chapters more or less polished by the time I go back to uni next Tuesday). I think that, before long, I'll have to sit down and just do some research on medieval European history, circa 900-1200AD. While in some ways it's better to just write the first draft to get the story out, research be damned, there are some bits that I'm finding increasingly difficult to work on because I just don't know enough about the time to write about it convincingly. However, research during first draft will be at the bare minimum level, just so I can (hopefully) avoid the most glaringly obvious mistakes; the rest can be fixed up later.

I've also made a character sheet for Dark and Silent Waters, mainly so I can stick it to the wall beside my desk and feel productive. And I've started doing character sheets for my fantasy trilogy, Exile; I know I'm not meant to be touching that series at the moment but I was in a character-sheety type of mood :P

I think Judgemental Dog means business:

See how other ROW80ers are going here.

ROW80 Round 1 - 14th Update

Time has been good to me (mostly) since the last check-in, but it still hasn't been smoothe sailing. My insomnia reared its ugly head again so between Tuesday and yesterday I had no more than five or six hours of sleep, so you can imagine what sort of mood I was in - and I have a short fuse at the best of times ^_^

Writing has been a bit two-steps-forward-one-step-back the last week or two. On Friday, however, something awesome happened. I reached 20,000 words on my novella :D Since then I've kept plugging away, and I'm now at just over 21,000 words (so bring on the energy drinks).

Yesterday I workshopped the last bit of chapter 1 with my writing group. I've already revised it based on the feedback I got, and it's given me some good ideas for the main character's back story. It was a good session; the other writers have some really good stories going so I can't wait to see more of them.

Overall, it's been a good week :)

What do you think, Judgemental Dog?

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ROW80 Round 1 - 13th Update

Most of this week's progress was made last night and today. Monday was spent working or visiting my nan in hospital, while yesterday was just one of those days where everything decides to interrupt you as often as possible.

I did continue editing chapters 1 and 2 a bit, but I also got stuck into writing some more of chapter 3. I think a lot of the cutting and revising I did in the earlier chapters has helped chapter 3 to flow a lot easier. Since I'd been subconsciously turning over various plot points in my mind, when I came to starting on the new section, I found that I was able to just barrel along through several scenes instead of my usual method of agonising over every sentence. I'm glad that I've at least got something written though; as the saying goes, you can't fix a blank page. Chapter 3 is about half finished now, so hopefully I can get most of it done by the next check-in.

As far as taking notes on journals for my thesis goes; didn't get any done on Monday, but I met my daily goal both yesterday and today.

No, Judgemental Dog. It is not.

Check out the progress of other ROW80ers here.

ROW80 Round 1 - 12th Update

This has been a slow week as far as writing goes, but I have done a lot of editing. Though it doesn't feel like progress, I know that it needed to be done pretty badly. I think as far as actual word count goes, I've probably cut out as much I've written. Some of what got scrapped (mostly from later chapters) was rendered obsolete by changes I'd made to my plot, while other bits were just removed because they were rubbish. And there were one or two scenes that took up a page or two but which I managed to get down to just a few paragraphs. Chapter 2 is now almost complete (all that remains is a small scene in the middle), though I have to go back through it to fix some inconsistencies. I have another meeting with my writing workshop group this Saturday, so I'm going to submit the funeral scene from the end of chapter 1. However, a lot of other members of the group have already submitted pieces for workshopping so I don't know if we'll get around to doing mine (I don't mind though; I workshopped last month so I don't want to take time away from someone else who hasn't workshopped yet). Over the next week I'm going to try to finish chapter 2 and revise it (or at least some of it) and make more progress on chapter 1 revisions.

I haven't included my word count tally this time, because the total hasn't really moved much from last time. Hopefully this will be the week I reach 20,000 words.

In other news, I managed to get my subjects for Honours this year sorted out. I've also made a bit of a headstart on researching for my thesis, but I still have a lot to do. As a result, I will be appending an academic requirement to my ROW80 writing goals, and that is to read at least three journal articles each day (and make notes from them if they are useful).

For those of you who don't know yet, Judgemental Dog is now on Twitter! He wants to inspire/intimidate you into getting more work done. Follow him. Let him cast his judgemental stare over you. Do it. You know you want to.

Judgemental Dog shows us where his priorities lie:

ROW80 Round 1 - 11th Update

I remember saying that, provided nothing disastrous happened, I would reach the 20,000 word mark of my novella sometime this week. Though nothing disastrous did happen, it was still one of those weeks where life just decided to get in the way every time I wanted to write.

I spent most of Monday with my nan, since I had to take her to the hospital (just a last checkup before her hip replacement surgery today, which I have since heard appears to have gone well). While I was waiting with her, we started discussing an old story she had been toying with many years ago, which she had compiled notes for and even written a few chapters of before abandoning it to literary oblivion. Without giving too much away, it's a crime story with the potential for a lot of black humour. Since I'm busy with Dark and Silent Waters, I've contented myself with writing a very basic plot outline, as well as a few random notes for it (I seem to be doing that a lot lately). I've decided that it would make a good project for NaNoWriMo 2011. My nan regretted that she had never done much with the novel, since it was an interesting and original concept (I must admit, I've never seen a similar story in books/movies/TV etc), and thought that if anyone had the power to bring the tale to life, it would be her reclusive writerly granddaughter. As she said, "I've got the idea out of my head now, so it can rattle around in yours for a while." Thanks, Non.

One thing's for sure; I certainly won't run out of story ideas in this lifetime (or the next).

Tuesday was eaten up by work, because I had to do a double shift (ah, the joys of being short-staffed when a big catalogue is launched), and I've spent most of today trying to sort things out for when I go back to uni in a few weeks (still trying to finalise my subjects and topic for my thesis in IT/multimedia). Since the last check-in, I've probably written no more than 500 words or so. However, the next few days should be a lot quieter, so I'm hoping I'll get more done; not sure if I'll hit 20,000, but I reckon I'll get close to it.

Meanwhile, Judgemental Dog suffers from abandonment issues:

See how the other ROW80ers are going here.

ROW80 Round 1 - 10th Update

As I briefly mentioned in my last update, while going over my novella outline and map earlier in the week, the idea for a short story drifted into my head. After having a whinge about it getting in the way of my novella, I dashed out a few hasty scenes of the short story, wanting to at least keep the idea for a later time. Then I opened my novella document and stared at it for a while.

And then I had another short story idea.

Once again I typed out the ideas and scenes I'd thought up, pounding away at my keyboard like a monkey on LSD. As with the first story, I got an almost complete (albeit dodgy) first draft before abandoning it and returning to Dark and Silent Waters. That was on Thursday. Since then, I pretty much haven't touched the short stories, but I have been flying through more of my novella. Chapter 1 has had a good shake-up, with some unnecessary crap cut out and other bits moved to later chapters, where they're more relevant (and to alleviate the too-many-characters-introduced-at-once syndrome). I've also made some good progress on chapter 2, filling in more of the previously abandoned scenes. I also think I've managed to bring a lot more tension into it, which is a big step forward.

Here is my updated word tally thingy:

Dark and Silent Waters
Prologue - 804 (complete)
Part 1
Chapter 1 - 5,674 (complete, but will be cut down during revisions)
Chapter 2 - 3,821
Chapter 3 - 786
Chapter 4 - 0
Part 2
Chapter 5 - 513
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 - 1,240
Epilogue - 1,373

Total - 18,902

The Watch Tower - 666

The Fallen City - 883

Though completing the short stories would be nice - and they are fun for me to look at my novella world from another angle - my main concern is the novella. Providing that nothing disastrous happens between now and then, I think that I should be able to reach the 20,000 word mark by the end of the week. This will fill me with feelings of warm fuzziness and so on, and will incite me into the celebratory consumption of much chocolate and alcohol and possibly another Doctor Who DVD marathon.

Victoria was hit by severe storms on Friday and Saturday as a result of the massive cyclone Yasi in Queensland. This caused flash flooding across some of the Melbourne suburbs, and though my small town escaped the worst of it, parts of it were still under a fair bit of water - including our street and property (luckily the water didn't get into the house though). After seeing his back yard turned into a swamp, Judgemental Dog was not impressed:

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Imperial or Metric in a Medieval Fantasy World

When I had the first chapter of my novella critiqued at my last writing workshop meeting, one of the issues that was brought up was the discrepancy between my use of measurements; I had used metres at one point, only to refer to inches a paragraph or two later. Obviously keeping this consistent is important, so I'm going to have to pick one or the other, but my main issue is this; which system do I use? My novella, Dark and Silent Waters, is set in a medieval fantasy world; so far I haven't given it an exact time period, but it would closely parallel 900-1200AD in our own medieval European history. The Exile trilogy (my other major project) is also set in a medieval fantasy realm, though probably at a slightly more advanced level than in Dark and Silent Waters (perhaps 1200-1500AD).

Imperial terms - inches, feet, miles etc - are generally shorter. They are faster to write and they seem to flow better in a sentence. And they seem to be the norm, for I can't recall seeing the metric system used in any fantasy book that I've read (apart from the Australian urban/steampunk fantasy subgenres, which I don't think can really be counted in this case since it's completely different to the medieval subgenre. But I could be wrong.).

However, I am used to the metric system. Probably because I live in Australia and have been raised to think in terms of centimetres and kilometres and so on. Also, being Australian, I feel a sort of grammatical obligation (is that even a proper phrase?) to use the metric system.

What do people think? Will the story still feel natural if I use my preferred metric system? Or should I stick to convention and go with imperial?

ROW80 Round 1 - 9th Update

Since the last check-in, I've more or less been doing the same as what I was before; revising my outline and chapter 1. I did add more to chapter 2, filling out a few important scenes (though one will most likely be completely rewritten since it concerns a part of the outline I'm still not happy with). However, chapter 1 got most of my attention; there is so much to be done with it, and I think for the first chapter it's especially important to hook the reader in with not only precise and punchy writing, but with an engaging story that raises questions the reader needs to find answers to. It's still a work in progress; the more I fix, the more I find that needs fixing. *sigh*

I also had a rant about the prevalence of poor grammar in today's society (I figured that if I was going to procrastinate, I might as well still do something useful).

Yesterday as I was going over my novella outline (again), I was looking at my map, trying to work out time taken to travel a certain distance and so on, when the beginnings of other ideas began gnawing at the back of my brain, like crazy little mind termites. I have a history of getting half way through one story and then being distracted by another (I know that some of my school/TAFE/uni friends are nodding as they read this), so I was determined to ignore it and focus only on my current project. I actually said to myself out loud, "I will not touch anything else until Dark and Silent Waters is finished!"

Famous last words.

When I woke up this morning from a strangely eerie dream about the watery Underworld of my story (you know you spend too much time writing when you have nightmares about your own novel), I could see several scenes from it playing out in my mind, with words seeming to curl through them, demanding to be written. With this, I basically resigned myself to the fact that this new idea wasn't going to leave me alone until I wrote about it (damn you, ADHD writer muse!).

As I've said in earlier posts, I don't really write short stories, so I don't know how this one will turn out (probably shite, knowing my history with short stories). I hope to workshop it at either my next workshopping meeting or the one after (depending on how I go with both this short story and my first two chapters of my novella). At this stage, it is tentatively titled The Watch Tower, and it will be set at some point before the events of my novella. So far I have just over 500 words. If I can get it to a high enough standard, I will try submitting it to a few dark fantasy short story anthologies, or at least include it as a 'bonus chapter' in my novella if/when that gets published.

I just realised I haven't included a word count tally for a while, so here it is:

Dark and Silent Waters
Prologue - 804 (complete)
Part 1
Chapter 1 - 6,291 (complete, but will be cut down during revisions)
Chapter 2 - 2,468
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 - 17,865

The Watch Tower - 521

Judgemental Dog being all high and mighty as always:


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Grammar Nazi goes on a Rampage

Friend: Stop being such a grammar Nazi!
Me: Well, stop raping the English language!

Those of you who know me will be aware that I am extremely pedantic when it comes to correct spelling/grammar/word usage and so on. I'm not saying I'm perfect myself - I'm sure I make mistakes here and there - but I get so frustrated by people who don't even try to speak/write with proper grammar.

I must admit that, if someone can barely string together a coherent sentence, I quickly lose the desire to converse with them. Is this judgemental? Most likely. Unfair? Perhaps. I can't help it, it's just how I am. However, I know that I'm not alone in this attitude. Many employers look for good written and verbal communication skills, so not being able to express yourself eloquently can put you at a serious disadvantage in the workforce (depending on what industry you are in, of course).

Disclaimer: I understand that things like Facebook are not formal means of communication, so I'm not expecting everyone on there to have the vocabulary of a university lecturer. People who correct every little typo on status updates or in online conversations etc. are almost as annoying as the people molesting the English language in the first place. But the problem is, most people who use poor grammar/spelling on Facebook do exactly the same thing in other places - including formal communication channels - and this is where it becomes a problem. (I've had this discussion with friends recently so I thought I'd include this point)

People who TyP lYk DiS need to be hunted down and killed. Slowly. But I digress.

Anyway, in the hopes of reducing the amount of horrendously written prose I am faced with (and, in turn, the amount of head-desking I do out of sheer despair at said prose), I decided to throw together a post on commonly misused/mis-spelled words and punctuation. It is by no means a complete guide to grammar, but it does contain the issues I find to be most common (and annoying). As I stumble across more instances of our language being abused, I will add to this post, so if you have any other suggestions that you'd like to see included, feel free to comment :)

Affect/Effect
'Affect' means 'to influence.' Eg. "The hot weather will affect the garden."
'Effect' means 'the result of' or 'to bring about.' Eg. "Adding vinegar to the bi-carb soda had an explosive effect."

A lot/Allot
'A lot' (note that it is two words) refers to a great quantity. Eg. "There are a lot of weeds in my garden."
'Allot' is a verb meaning 'to distribute between or among.' Eg. "The General will allot a ration of supplies to each soldier."
'Alot' is not a word.

Angel/angle
'Angel' refers to spiritual beings. Eg. "The angel fell from heaven."
'Angle' refers to a cognitive standpoint or a geometric space within two lines diverging from a common point. Eg. "The hill slopes at a sharp angle."

Bare/Bear
'Bare' means naked or exposed. Eg. "The wind was cold on his bare skin."
'Bear' is a large furry mammal that typically lives in forests and mountainous regions. Eg. "The bear chased the hiker because it wanted to eat him."

Been/Being
'Been' is the past tense of 'be.' Eg. "I have been ill."
'Being' is the present tense of 'be.' Eg. "I am being silly."

Bought/Brought
'Bought' is the past tense of 'buy.' Eg. "I bought a sonic screwdriver from eBay."
'Brought' is the past tense of 'bring.' Eg. "I brought a book to uni so I could read it on the train."

Brake/Break
'Brake' refers to stopping or at least slowing down. Eg. "When approaching traffic lights, you should brake your car."
'Break' refers to ruining or destroying something. Eg. "If you drop a glass vase on the ground, it will probably break."

Coarse/course
'Coarse' refers to a rough texture. Eg. "The sandpaper had a coarse surface."
'Course' refers to a systematised or prescribed series, or the path along which something moves. Eg. "I took a course on creative writing before going into IT."

Current/currant
'Current' means 'now' or 'at this time', or refers to the flow of water. Eg. "The current temperature is 24 degrees."
'Currant' is a raisin-y sort of dried fruit, made from grapes. Eg. "I ate a currant."

Defiantly/Definately/Definatley
'Defiantly' means 'with defiance.' Eg. "He defiantly stared down his enemy."
'Definately/Definatley' are not words. The word you are looking for is 'Definitely,' which refers to certainty. Eg. "It is definitely going to rain today."
There is no 'a' in 'definitely.' The Oatmeal said it best: "If you put an A in 'definitely,' then you're definitely an A-hole."

Discussed/Disgust
'Discussed' is the past tense of 'discuss', meaning 'spoke about.' Eg. "The students discussed their assignment during their lunch break."
'Disgust' refers to the feeling of horror or abhorrence towards something unpleasant. Eg. "She stared at the squashed spider in disgust."

DVDs/DVD's
'DVDs' is the plural of 'DVD.' Eg. "There are three DVDs on the shelf."
'DVD's' is the possessive form of 'DVD.' Eg. "The DVD's label is tattered."

Have/of
'Have' means 'to possess or own.' Eg. "I have a dog."
'Of' is a preposition indicating 'distance, direction or separation from,' 'concerning' or 'the origin or source.' Eg. "He is of the northern tribe."
Saying "should of done something" is incorrect. It is "should have done something."

Hear/Here
'Hear' refers to the sense we perform with our ears. Eg. "I can hear a jet flying over the house."
'Here' refers to the present location or time. Eg. "The treasure should be buried here."

He's/His
'He's' is a contraction of 'he is.' Eg. "He's going to write a novel."
'His' is a possessive form of 'he/him.' Eg. "The man dropped his wallet."

Its/It's
'Its' is the possessive form of 'it.' Eg. "The dog licked its paw."
'It's' is a contraction of 'it is.' Eg. "It's going to be a sunny day."

Less/Fewer
'Less' refers to something that must be measured. Eg. "There is less water in the pond."
'Fewer' refers to something that can be counted. Eg. "There are fewer people in the building."

Loose/Lose
'Loose' is an adjective, describing a lack of tightness. Eg. "My shoelaces are loose."
'Lose' is a verb, which can mean either to misplace something or to not win. Eg. "If I don't train hard every day I will lose this race."

Paw/Poor/Pore/Pour
'Paw' refers to the thing on the end of a dog's leg. Eg. "The dog's paw had a thorn in it."
'Poor' refers to something that is not in good condition, or a person with no money. Eg. "The man was poor because he wasted all his money on gambling."
'Pore' refers to either the small openings in the skin or to the act of studying something intently. Eg. "She decided to pore over her textbooks until her maths exam."
'Pour' is a verb meaning to send fluid/fine particles etc flowing. Eg. "I will pour the water into the jar."

Plain/Plane
'Plain' means 'uninteresting' or 'unadorned.' Eg. "The walls of the house were plain white."
'Plane' is short for aeroplane. Eg. "My plane to England was delayed."

Taut/Taught
'Taut' means 'tight.' Eg. "The rope went taut when the acrobat put all her weight on it."
'Taught' is the past tense of 'teach.' Eg. "The teacher taught the students how to solve algebra problems."

Than/Then
'Than' is used in comparative statements. Eg. "Cadbury chocolate tastes better than Nestles chocolate."
'Then' is used to mark time or show a sequence of events. Eg. "I will finish my assignment, and then I will work on my novel."

That/Which
'That' should be used when referring to one of multiple instances. Eg. "Bring me the pen that is on the desk." (there are many pens, we want the one that is on the desk)
'Which' should be used to add more information about an object being referred to. Eg. "Bring me the pen, which is on the desk." (there is only one pen, and it is on the desk)

There/Their/They're
'There' is an adverb meaning 'in that place' or 'in that respect.' Eg. "She will go there as soon as she can."
'Their' is the possessive form of 'they.' Eg. "Their house was burned down."
'They're' is a contraction of 'they are.' Eg. "They're going to be late for school."

Tire/tyre
'Tire' means 'to reduce the strength of' or 'to make weary.' Eg. "Running around the block three times will tire me out."
'Tyre' refers to the rubber band fitted around the metal rim on the wheel of a car. Eg. "I ran over a nail and got a flat tyre."

To/too/two
'To' is a preposition, generally expressing motion or direction towards something. Eg. "I am going to the supermarket."
'Too' can mean 'in addition' or 'to an excessive extent or degree.' Eg. "This lemonade is too sour."
'Two' is the written form of the number 2. Eg. "There are two cans of V left in my fridge."

Visualize/color
These are the American spellings. In Australia (and the UK), we use 'visualise' and 'colour.'

Weather/Whether/Wether
'Weather' refers to the climate. Eg. "The weather has been warm and humid lately."
'Whether' refers to conditions being met. Eg. "I will buy a new car whether I win the lottery or not."
'Wether' refers to a castrated lamb. "The wether has been shorn."

Whose/Who's
'Whose' is a possessive form of 'who.' Eg. "The person whose lottery ticket matches the numbers drawn will be very happy."
'Who's' is a contraction of 'who is.' Eg. "Who's going to go to the beach tomorrow?"

Your/You're
'Your' is a possessive form of 'you.' Eg. "Your fly is undone."
'You're' is a contraction of 'you are.' Eg. "You're not invited to my party."

Yous/you's/youse
None of these are proper words. Stop using them. Just stop. They make you sound like a bogan. The word/phrase you are looking for is 'you', 'you guys', 'you lot', 'you three' etc.

Remember: Every time you use bad grammar, a fairy dies.