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*--

ROW80 Goals - Round 1

With the beginning of A Round of Words in 80 Days looming, I figured I should probably pull my thumb out and set myself some goals for the first round.

As I mentioned in my previous post, me setting goals often tends to be a fruitless exercise. Mainly because (I think), I get a bit optimistic about my capabilities, so I set goals that aren't really achievable (this happens not just in writing but in life in general). As soon as I become aware that I'm not going to make it, I start procrastinating for all I'm worth (and you know what they say about procrastination...).

So, for ROW80, I have thought more carefully about my goal-setting than I usually do, because I want it to be something I can actually accomplish. Not only so I will actually have something to show for it, but so I don't end up with that all-too-familiar feeling of failure and worthlessness. Therefore, my goals for ROW80 Round 1 are as follows:

Major Goal
*To complete Part 1 of Dark and Silent Waters, my novella, ie. The first four chapters (not including the prologue, which is already complete).

Minor Goals
*To complete one chapter every fortnight.
*To workshop at least one, hopefully two of these chapters among my writing group.
*To edit/polish Part 1.

To see what goals other ROW80 participants have posted, click here.

Of Writing and Workshopping

Last Saturday we had the first meeting of my new writing workshop group.

The proposal for the group came from one of my fellow writers from TAFE, who said she had been feeling disconnected from the writing community since leaving the course. During the meeting, it became obvious that this was a sentiment shared by all of us; we missed the face-to-face feedback and critiquing, the immediacy of sharing our writing with other people in the same room.

At TAFE, having daily classes meant that we had constant deadlines imposed on us. As much as we complained about being forced to submit poems and short stories, novels and screenplays, the fact that we had to have something to workshop most weeks meant that we were always writing. In the three years since the writing course ended, however, many of us have become a bit slack as far as writing goes - at least, I know I have. I'd set goals for myself and then uni or work or life would get in the way, and I'd just sort of shrug and say "I'll do it next month". Though I did get a bit of my novella done during NaNoWriMo this year, I haven't written nearly as much as I should have. And I pretty much haven't touched my fantasy trilogy since TAFE.

It felt good to be in a room full of writers again. Even though we weren't actually workshopping, it felt as though just talking about the writing and critiquing process was enough to stir my need to create. We now have others to hold us accountable; if we say we want to have a piece done by a given time, the other group members can give us the proverbial kick in the pants we need to reach that goal. The group we've thrown together is full of good writers and workshoppers, so I'm looking forward to seeing what influence it has on my own writing. I'm hoping that with other writers constantly reading and critiquing my work and giving me feedback, it will improve not only the quantity but also the quality of what I write. Maybe, just maybe, it will make the difference between having a few random chapters of a manuscript and having a completed novella ready to publish.

Between writing and doing Honours for IT/Multimedia, it looks like I have an interesting (if hectic) year ahead.

And because it's Christmas, here's a picture of my dog asleep under the Christmas tree:

A Round of Words in 80 Days

With the hectic rush of NaNoWriMo over, I was putting off writing by trawling the writing forums, when I stumbled across a link to this site:

A Round of Words in 80 Days

The site was started by a NaNoWriMo participant who, like many others, found it impossible to disconnect completely from their real life in order to meet the requirements of NaNoWriMo. It is another writing challenge, similar to NaNoWriMo, but instead of having only 30 days to complete the challenge, you have 80. Also, instead of having to churn out 50,000 words, writers can set their own goals they wish to achieve. Writers sign in using their blogs, and throughout the challenges keep participants updated on their progress, as well as encouraging others to reach their goals.
Many people feel that writing 50,000 words in a month is just too big a task (in a way, I empathise - I reached 50,000 but only by madly bashing out senseless drivel to fill that Word document). However, sometimes writers need something to push us to keep writing, a deadline, a reward, a supportive community; anything. We need something to get us into our chair in front of our keyboard, without being intimidated by it. A Round of Words in 80 Days should get us there (kind of like bribing a kid with chocolate to clean their room... hmm... now I want chocolate...). It's a challenge that WE choose, so we know we can win :)
I've joined; hope to see some of you there!