Elliot Cooper's Blog, page 4
May 11, 2015
Organization for the Long Haul
One of my biggest issues when working on story notes, especially world and plot building, is organization. The most difficult parts with regards to my personal creative process are:
writing it all down
keeping everything in one place (analog or digital)
making it clear which ideas are the final/official ones
I still lean heavily on analog notes given my computing devices aren't the best or the newest. If they die, I don't want to panic about losing so much precious work. There's also a tactile element to hand writing--the feel of the pen and paper, the texture of a notebook's cover, the scent of processed dead tree, the weight of a book in hand--that I find enjoyable and a boost to my creative mojo.
So, taking a lead from a friend, I've bought a nice, sturdy journal that I'm now transferring all of my finalized series notes for Gods and Monsters of Urth into. I'll still keep a separate "throw away" journal to scribble furious brainstorming in, but that could just as easily be a napkin or sticky note so long as the final info ends up in the big notebook!
Of course, owning cats (who are notoriously anti-written-communication and pro-paper), this might be an easier concept than actuality.
If you write, how do you keep organized? What works best with your creativity style? What methods have you tried that were utter disasters?
writing it all down
keeping everything in one place (analog or digital)
making it clear which ideas are the final/official ones
I still lean heavily on analog notes given my computing devices aren't the best or the newest. If they die, I don't want to panic about losing so much precious work. There's also a tactile element to hand writing--the feel of the pen and paper, the texture of a notebook's cover, the scent of processed dead tree, the weight of a book in hand--that I find enjoyable and a boost to my creative mojo.
So, taking a lead from a friend, I've bought a nice, sturdy journal that I'm now transferring all of my finalized series notes for Gods and Monsters of Urth into. I'll still keep a separate "throw away" journal to scribble furious brainstorming in, but that could just as easily be a napkin or sticky note so long as the final info ends up in the big notebook!Of course, owning cats (who are notoriously anti-written-communication and pro-paper), this might be an easier concept than actuality.
If you write, how do you keep organized? What works best with your creativity style? What methods have you tried that were utter disasters?
April 15, 2015
Camp NaNoWriMo April - Super Serial
I've participated in NaNoWriMo since 2004 (only skipping 2010), but this is my first time doing Camp NaNoWriMo. So far, so good!
I'm working on the sequel to my NaNo novella from last year, The Orc Prince, which ended up being the first in a planned series of high fantasy erotica stories called Gods and Monsters of Urth. The Orc Prince follows Dareth Fellhawk who is captured by orcs and discovers he has a destiny. Does he follow his destiny, or choose a fate of his own instead?
Meanwhile, my Camp WIP titled The Heretic Queen is the story of Estell, who must marry a king from a strange land across the sea. The horrible rumors about the people of Saltmire can't possibly be true, so she intends to dispel them and embrace the island kingdom as her true home. But when she discovers her new husband is a monster, all of her good intentions may unravel.
My projected word count goal for Heretic Queen started at 30k, but I'm feeling like it'll be closer to 40k when all is said and done. Hopefully I can do what I did last November for only the second time (without rushing), and finish the story within the month of the event!
Also in the works are the first rounds of beta reading and critiquing of the manuscript for The Orc Prince. These author gears keep on turnin' :)
I'm working on the sequel to my NaNo novella from last year, The Orc Prince, which ended up being the first in a planned series of high fantasy erotica stories called Gods and Monsters of Urth. The Orc Prince follows Dareth Fellhawk who is captured by orcs and discovers he has a destiny. Does he follow his destiny, or choose a fate of his own instead?
Meanwhile, my Camp WIP titled The Heretic Queen is the story of Estell, who must marry a king from a strange land across the sea. The horrible rumors about the people of Saltmire can't possibly be true, so she intends to dispel them and embrace the island kingdom as her true home. But when she discovers her new husband is a monster, all of her good intentions may unravel.
My projected word count goal for Heretic Queen started at 30k, but I'm feeling like it'll be closer to 40k when all is said and done. Hopefully I can do what I did last November for only the second time (without rushing), and finish the story within the month of the event!
Also in the works are the first rounds of beta reading and critiquing of the manuscript for The Orc Prince. These author gears keep on turnin' :)
