Elysae Shar's Blog, page 9

Well, That Didn’t Work

It’s about 9:00 am the day after I started my “vacation.” Since then I’ve cleaned out two cupboards, watched four episodes of NCIS, plaid several rounds of Binding of Isaac, finished the Book Thief, swept the floor repeatedly, and started Way of Kings. In short I’m bored.There’s no way,I can keep this up for another two days. I don’t have enough rooms to clean for that, and this time of year, going outside here is like wading into a horde of zombies. Everyone’s in a holiday craze. Not that there’s anywhere here I’d actually want to go. All my favorite cafes are on winter breaks. And most of all, I miss writing. even if I’m about to go into a revision phase. Guess that means I’m in for the long haul?

So yeah. I’m calling off my time off. Less than 24 hours after it began. I guess that’s better than extending it into 2017 because I can’t find my groove again after…

New years resolution: Learn to appreciate time off.

It’s Done

At roughly 18k words the first draft of Beyond the Wall is finished. It cane out a touch shorter and more dependent on What Lies Within than I anticipated, but it’s done and ready for next year’s revision.

For now, I’m going to take my first migraine free day off since April 2014. Three of them to be exact. My goal was to get the 1st draft done in December. I’d say I achieved that and I’m well on track for my release goal in late January.

Now that I’ve said that, Beyond the Wall will probably take its predecessor as a role model and give me a mountain of  trouble during revision, but I’ve got  books to read and future projects to think about.

Like whether to go for Ash Manor Book 3 first and wrap up the storyline, I started in What Lies Within or go for a standalone novel, I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks, first

For the Sake of Research

I spent an hour watching babies crawl on Youtube to figure out whether right hand right foot, or right hand left foot was more common. I still don’t really know, but I’m a little floored at just how many different variations there are. I also  gotta say that those innocent eyes “charging” toward a camera at that angle are rather creepy.  And all that for a single paragraph in one scene. It’ll never come up after.

I also bought The Way of Kings. I loved Words of Radiance, so yeah. I plan on buying all his books over time. They’re big and he brings them out slow enough that I might just catch up.

When Sequels Demand to be Written

When I released What Lies Within, I hated the story and wanted nothing further to do with it. Yet, within a week, I started thinking of a sequel to it, and it kept intruding into everything else I tried to write. I struggled on for a bit until my dear muse gave me a more solid idea of what it was to be about, then I gave in and started writing it.

I’m about 11k into Beyond the Wall, and Ash is about to realize his world is far more dangerous than he thought.  Of course, this is bad for The Upper City, which I haven’t touched since. And to make matters worse or weirder, I still have no idea what genre What Lies Within really is. It’s got elements of many, but not enough to actually fit into any. Only thing I know is that it’s not the epic fantasy, I always saw myself writing. Makes Amazon categorizing a pain.

I’m hoping for a January release date around the time What Lies Within’s Select term renews, so I can run a free promo on that then.

 

Music Woes & the Long Nap

Yesterday, I figured I’d take a nap around 4:00 PM before getting started on my evening session. I woke up three hours later and made coffee, because I always need coffee no matter the time. It has long ceased to do anything on the keeping me awake front, but I still need it to wake up. While my coffee was brewing, I started to wonder why I’m not loopy at all. Normally after a nap, I can’t walk straight for quite some time.

I got my answer a short time later, when the sun came up. I slept nearly fifteen hours straight. This has never happened before, and I wasn’t even that tired when I lay down.My previous personal best was twelve, and then I was dizzy and seeing double by the tome I finally got to lie down.

Fast forward to today. There’s been quiet music running next doors for a few hours now, but since it was quiet and I was fiddling with Gimp anyway, I didn’t mind. Literally within minutes of m switching over to my text processor, the volume increased–by a lot. This is a problem on many levels.

I’m not a big fan of music in the first place–especially not modern “music”–but I hate loud music on a rage inducing level. Unfortunately for me, my loud starts at a level that’s considered normal by the majority of the population. I’ll make a great “old bat” one day.

I also tend to write in rhythm whenever I have to force myself to write through music. Even month later, I can still tell where the song changed, because my entire sentence structure changes along with it. It’s a pain to sort that out during revision.

I won’t complain, though, because it’s hardly their fault, I’m so easily annoyed, but it means further delay on my writing.

Goodbye Pre-Order Privileges

Yup, I screwed up. I failed to realize that Textbook Creator literally meant textbooks and not books containing only text. I used it on Winged Tales which made it Print Replica with no details other than the filesize, because there’s no print edition.  Go me!

So, I canceled the pre-order and lost my privileges for a year. I’m not bothering support with this, because it’s my mistake, and I should suffer the consequences.  Besides, i only used pre-order to keep myself from slacking off anyway. I’m nowhere near big enough to actually get pre-orders. Maybe in a year I’ll be.

On the bright side, though, this means that Winged Tales is now available for purchase here.

 

From a young dragon’s first flight, brought on by a desperate need to escape a slobbering beast, to a woman’s flight from her former team, Winged Tales is a collection of short stories that touch on the subject of flying either literally or figuratively. Not all is as it seems, and sometimes you have to look closer to find the wings.

 

 

 

And it will be free from Nov 27th to Dec 1st.

Done and Done

I hit 50k on the 20th,  and rather than pushing on, I’m letting Dorren take a short rest–in a basement with a guy, he considers a pompous idiot, and a giant map of an unknown location–to finish the revision of what I’m now calling Winged Tales. A collection of short stories that all involve flight, either via a creature capable of such or ideas. I’m almost done, too. One final pass for typos and such, and that’s it.  I’ve submitted it for pre-order today just so I don’t start slacking off. And because I want to see how many pages Amazon gives it, so I can price it. It’s not live yet, but it’s there and I can’t back out now.

True, I’m not reeling in money, but I love self-publishing, and if I never do anything else again in my life, I’ll die a happy person.

Characters Ruin Everything

I’ve been in a bit off a funk over the last week; had several below 1k days. I’m at 35k, so I’ll still make 50k by the end of the month, but I doubt I’ll manage a complete draft.

Part of this is because, I’ve chosen the worst time possible to rediscover Titan Quest and been playing that a whole lot more, than I should…

Mostly, though, it’s because I had to write out a character, I was growing quite attached to, and he won’t be back for quite a while. I also had to introduce a character, whom I’d probably punch in the face, if I ever met him. I honestly like my antagonist better than this guy, and he’s a two faced bastard. He fits the role, though, so he’s staying. Woe is me…

I’m also beginning to wonder why I bothered to outline at all. I’ve deviated so far from that, I might as well be pantsing. I kind of am, because most of the later events in my outline have become impossible now.

At some point, I decided that instead of weekends, the upper city has the height of the week, which is essentially code for the former slaves go meet in secret while the scribes get drunk. Two days later, I went scrolling through the text, because I’d convinced myself that I’d spelled it “hight” instead. I often remember nonexistent typos like that.

 

My Character Must Hate Me

One week into NaNoWriMo, I’m at  ~22k words, and every inclination of turning After The Fall into a short episode serial has died in a blazing inferno, because I only just reached the end of the first act. Not too bad , though. I don’t mind starting a novel length series. Might be better for sales anyway.I’m also very glad that my MC is fictional and not my  neighbor. I don’t think he likes me very much right now.

Since moving to the upper city, Dorren has made an enemy, almost lost his job, and met a woman who’ll annoy him to no end in the future. He’ll have to put up with her, though, because he needs her help. He’s also been forced to commit a crime, because an old business associate of a sort, has decided to blackmail him. Even with all this, he has yet to encounter the real threat. It’s fun to write, though.

Now that, I’m going with novel, I also added a second POV.

I also found a folder stuffed with a bunch of short stories, I don’t remember writing… So I’m revising those whenever I hit my NaNo wordcount. Might have a December release after all.

And What Lies Within sold its first copy

And To Think I Almost Didn’t Participate

It’s the 2nd and so far NaNoWriMo is a blast.  I ended the first day with 7350 words. I definitely can’t keep that up all month, but as long as I end with a a 2k per day average, I’m happy.

It’s also blown all my expectations and plans for the After The Fall Series I intended to write during NaNo, out of the water. I’d intended each episode to be between 10 and 15k, i’ve an in depth outline for most of book one and a rough one for the next three. With each chapter in the first book split into several beats.

I figured each beat would get me about 500 words. I just finished the third… . Ruins my chapter layout, too. I guess the short  story serial will be either a novel or novella series. I’ll have to modify the ending a bit then, because it’s too open for that.

Gotta say, though, this story has been withholding a ton of information from me. Like my MC’s “Save The Cat” action, saving his life in book three, because the character Dorren helps out is perfect for the role. And that Dorren’s secret role in toppling the former ruling class, is a whole lot more important than I realized.

This beats outlining style might actually work for me, because despite having a detailed plan, writing is still fun, and I’m still discovering new things.  If the same holds true for the next thing I write, I’m sticking with it. I’d love to because I enjoy plotting almost as much as writing itself. Yay for pantsers who love to plot!

Anyone else participating in NaNoWriMo, and if so, how are you doing so far?