E. Kaiser Writes's Blog, page 12

How I did on NaNoWriMo

Okay! November is OVERRRRRR!

 Yes, that is about how happy I am to be able to say that.  It is not like I didn't appreciate it while it was here, but 50k words later, I am very, Very VERY ready to say goodbye to the month and move on to a little different headspace for a while. My creativity is strained and sprained and feeling mighty sore, but the words I got out were mostly good, high quality ones... even if I had to slip into Science Fiction scenarios there at the end.
 (Hey! Some day I'll have a crack-shot group of sci-fi story lines... )
 
 So, at first I did great. I was like:
Kristen Coco oil paintings   Oh, yes. I can do this!


  Then on the 5th my sister had a cattle working accident that bashed her teeth in, and we spent all day in town at the oral surgeon's for emergency dental care. I was pretty worried about the situation; stressed and keyed up... and didn't write that day, or the next.
  I barely made any progress the third day, and (I think,) the next two either.

Tiny turtle on keyboard.  My mojo was just gone. I had nothing to say.
Cartoon stock.
 So shortly I was like:

Sad dog.
 And pretty soon I was like:

Reminder beagle.


 Then I recovered my creativity and started to write. I was determined to make up the lapse, and even pull ahead.   At this point I was like this:

Armored Beagle I wrote hard, pulling those emotions out of the clouds, making things tough.
 I made it to my goal post, but had a hard time keeping up later.

           I flagged, I felt exhausted.


Dramatic AnimalsI struggled to find compelling scenes to drag me back into the world of my tale.

 Then on 13th, it happened. I surged forward! The story was a wild thing, and I was riding it, hanging on for dear life! We sailed forward toward the horizon!
 
Photoshop DisastersI over shot the line! I got down great scenes, sweeping complications of people trying to do their own thing in a world that draws harsh lines. Hard things. Sad things.
  I fell behind once, but it didn't bother me. The tale was coming, in bursts and snippets. The words bubbled up and sank away again, ebbing and tiding like an ocean of meaning that would fill my cupped hands, and now flee away.
 
 Then it simmered down to a faint  hum, and wouldn't sing to me any more.
via Pinterest via Pinterest
   
 I researched ancient Rome.
And the legions.
I found shiny pictures.

 But not much inspiration. via Pinterest This was starting to get serious. My lack of fire in the direction of my story was worrying me. Had I overworked the plot? Were there not enough holes for my imagination to play with? Were there too many?

  I cut off into a new direction... pitting hero against a dragon, on a burnt and blasted wasteland.

Dragon slayer
That was a lot of fun to write, and so I allowed my imagination out to play. I switched between "real stuff" and "playing stuff", and kept on track with the word count goals.

Then it was the thirtieth. And I needed 2000 words by midnight to officially make it.

 I didn't feel good. My brain felt fogged. I was sick.
 
White TigerBut there it was: the fact!
Feature Pics  So I tackled what may be the toughest scene in the book. The one where the hero finally understands he has to make the right choice, even if it takes everything from him.

  I typed madly at the keyboard on that afternoon, determined to make it those last couple of thousand.
   I was kind of like this:

Typing madly

 But he fought me. Why would he give everything up? He's had it good, he's done it his way. What would make him change his whole mindset, his whole life? When he has nothing to gain, and everything to loose? Hasn't he already lost enough? Shouldn't he hold tight to the things he has left to him?
    Grrr!!
On the road to Damascus
 So I had him turn aside to a small spring, and there he met a young man. They talked. He pondered. Time slipped away....

 I crossed the 50k line.
Think Stock
 My MC still hadn't decided to commit. All the way in. 

Kingfisher Dive   But... I was done.
   I didn't feel done though.
        I felt... behind. Like I should have written 60k, or finished 5 days early, or... something.

 Or found a way to resolve this pivotal scene.

But I couldn't find a way. I thought I was getting close, read it to my sister, and she said "That's not a believable change."
     So I quit writing and watched a movie with Dad and was like this:
Watching TV 

 The next day was December first. 
  I walked around kind of jittery, trying to remind myself that there was no required word count today. That I was free. But I didn't really believe it. Not totally. It hadn't sunk in.
 So I was kind of like this:
 

 Then it was the 2nd.


     It was real.



   I checked my NaNo profile.

 

 I had written 50k.






  And then I was like:
Exultation And this:Triumphant joy. Sure there was a lot left to write. And my hero's turning point would come. Later...
 But right now: there was a whole lot less left to be written.       So that was my November.
 How was yours?

How I Do NaNoWriMo

  The whole idea of National Novel Writing Month is to write recklessly and with abandon, churning out a whitewater rapids of words; so that when you reach the end of November you have A) more words in one piece than you've had before, and B) something to start rewrites on with the goal of eventually honing a novel out of the midst of it.
 
  This can be a good thing if you are a "slush" writer, one who writes junk and then sifts it for the good things. But if you're a more "only good things, though slowly" kind of writer, getting that kind of volume actually messes up your creative potential.
 I've run across many people who say that writing total drivel en masse in the hopes of cleaning up later and finding something good... doesn't work for them.

   This is a good point.

  I, too, found that sheer quantity isn't useful... (or hard, for me; quality is what makes me sweat! ) so I limit myself to only writing keeping-worthy words.
    Yes, I know how that sounds!
       But here's how it works: I do not have a daily goal, just a monthly one.
  I try to focus on coming up with some really good chunks of time to write great ideas before they dissipate, and go for 2,000-5/6000 per inspiration. For November I put writing first, and squirrel away from other "entertainments".

     By the end of the month my creativity is flagging, but I push for a few more sprints on scenes I already know need written, and I have always finished over goal. Usually, I don't stop just 'cause I've reached 50k, but kind of coast on til the end; and then give myself a writing free month of December!

     (I don't take it, but it's a nice feeling for a few days to just be like "No Writing! No writing anywhere!!")

 
    What do you think? Does wildly NaNoing sound like it'd work for you?

Why I Do NaNoWriMo

 I am a pretty consistent writer.
    Not consistent in "I write every day" (I don't) but consistent in "I write every year, every season, whenever something big isn't immovably in my way I'm either writing, thinking about writing, or talking about it."

  So it's no surpirse that I've racked up A LOT of wordcount all told, and several book length ms.
  I've released two YA low fantasy novels, and I've got too many WIPs to shake a stick at. (All of which I am working on!)

 So why do I do NaNoWriMo?

 Because it's fun...
   Because it's energizing in a big, big way.
    And because the WriMos are too much fun to miss out on!

  The general, contagious excitement and creativity that is unleashed onto the internet is super infectious, and I find the adrenaline pumped air a heady boost to my usual creative output.
   The fun, the enthusiasm, the wild and wonderful plot doctoring... I love the NaNo site in November, when it comes alive like the toys after midnight. There are clowns walking on the ceiling and wooden soldiers dancing on the desk lamps. It's a crazy, beautiful festival of words, and the ideas and solutions I have found among the WriMos are beyond anything I've found anywhere else.
   These strange folk are extremely helpful and upbeat... and, we must admit, just a little weird; but that makes their eyes fresher, their brains quicker, their plot-hole fixing powers just that much more enhanced.

 I so enjoy their witty comebacks to any problem, their realistic assessments of book related facts, their inexorable power of creativity on any subject matter, however fantastical it may be.

 I love the exuberance of the electrons wafting off their activities all month long.

   That's why I do NaNoWriMo.
      And I'll actually start writing any day now.... any day...
 

Guest: Two Authors & Their Novels

 Today is the first of November, so that means that WriMos everywhere need to be focusing on their novels and getting that 50k down. This includes me, and you can bet I'll be doing just that this month!  I've got some NaNo posts coming up starting Tues, but right now I've got a release announcement from two authors who are releasing their novels today! First up...Adventures and Adversities by Sarah Holman   
 One day Alditha is content living with her family, the next she is taking her friends place to serve at the king’s castle.  Her father's final instructions, to keep smiling and to do what is right, will be harder to live out then she ever imagined. She will face a royal nephew who delights in making people miserable, an angry servant girl that will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and noblemen who plot murder. Will she be able to keep the promise she made to her father? Will she find the faith she longs for during all her Adventures and Adversities. And also... Captive of Raven Castle by Jessica Greyson  
 The troubled people of war-torn Chambria are on the brink of starvation, and a delicate princess with a recurring nightmare is their only hope. Alexandra knows that her value to her country consists mainly in her ability to marry well, but when she is kidnapped by the rebels and taken to meet the man claiming to be both Chambria's true king and her real father, her entire world falls apart. Will Princess Alexandra be able to untangle the web of lies and discern who is the true king and her father?


   So there you have it! Two new books released out into the world at large. Must be scary for them, huh? 
      

    Have you read anything by either of these authors?

Q&A: How Long To Write Your Books?

Here's another question I get asked sometimes, and since I received this recently, here's the answer. Q: How long does it take you to do one of your books?  A: Well, I wrote the first incarnation of Jeweler's Apprentice February of 2007. I finished final edits and published it December, 2011. So that process took a little over 4 years. IT was tough, I thrashed out a lot of problems in my way of working, and basically finally got an understanding of "how to write a WHOLE book". 
   I started work on snippets that would be Traitor's Knife sometime during the final stages of JA, but didn't really start seriously on it until spring 2012. March, I think. Summer is always really busy, so I didn't get much done on it until fall again, when I set myself to diligently writing. I wrote the first draft that winter, (NaNo helped finish most of the big stuff!) then it went into edits immediately. Beta readers wrapped up on it that spring, and I released TK in July, '13. So that would be about a year for that one.  That was a very hard thing to do, but I felt like there were people waiting on me for the next book, so I really felt pressure on making sure it got out as soon as possible. At this point, I'm letting my brain rest a bit, and haven't made any solid plans for when the next in the series will be out... just letting the ol' creative muscle off the hook for a while. Does that give an idea of an answer? 

  I definitely think that the first book or so is the hardest, since you don't know "how to write a WHOLE book!!!"... and that the more you do that, the better you'll get. (I may even go so far as to recommend first-timers write 2-3 books before they take a swing at publishing. If you build buzz for the first book, it's easier to have 2nd & 3rd ready to release in sequence, instead of having the pressure to write it from scratch. That, and it's easier to promote when you're thinking of several books you have to sell, instead of putting all the effort out there for 1 single book available.)  Also, once you've written that many books, it gives you a lot more confidence to be able to make decisions on how many books you are able to release on what kind of a schedule.  And you'll learn tons on those first few books, and you can go back and tweak the first one with what you learned on the second.   Each book is hard in it's own way, so I understand authors who say "It never gets easier."   But I think that's a bit of a simplification. It does get easier. It just never gets "easy".

Writer Interview: Shannon McDermott

Writer Interview: Shannon McDermott, from Missouri!

  Thanks so much for answering the call, Shannon! We're so glad to have you here this time, and we hope to get you back for a reader interview sometime later.

Shannon: I'm happy to be here, and I'll be happy to come back.


E: So, let's get started. What's your favorite genre/genres, and what do you think really draws you to that/them the most?

S: My favorite genre is speculative fiction. I enjoy the freedom of the genre, all the room you have to create and explore. I also enjoy how you can, in effect, get at the truth from another angle; whether in our world or an invented one, the most important questions are always the same.

E: What's your most favorite writing related advice?

S: My favorite writing advice is from the author who, when asked her advice for young writers, said that she would tell them to never listen to writers talking about themselves or writing.

On a more practical note, I also like another woman's remark on writing: "We must kill our little darlings."

Every part has to be evaluated on how it affects the whole. If it distracts, or undermines the portrayal of a character or the mood of a scene, we have to kill it - even if it is one of our little darlings.

E:  What is your favorite type of character to write? Why do you think that especially appeals to you?

S: I've enjoyed writing all sorts of characters - my favorite character in The Last Heir was probably the villain - but I've always had a soft spot for the quiet ones. They're slower and more thoughtful, and I enjoy writing them.

E: Where do you like to get your characters? Do you like to draw off of people you know, other books, or just pull them put of the blue?

S: Normally I form them in response to the story. Then, as I use them, they grow and sometimes change.

Years ago I wrote a Christian Holmes story where he was just besieged by distractions. One of these was a passel of relatives who showed up unannounced for a visit. I needed one to act as a sort of spokesman, and I gave him attributes in keeping with the role: talkative, outgoing, confident, maybe a little overbearing, well-meaning but oblivious.

I kept bringing him back, and different stories added different things. I made him an inventor, I made him rich, I made him brilliant. The overbearing aspect faded away; he became exceptionally well-meaning and almost eccentrically oblivious.

Henry Holmes, as I named him, is now the most popular character in the Christian Holmes series. The story shaped him, until he began to shape the story.


E: Some writers talk about their characters getting out of control and things happening that they didn't intend to happen; have you ever had this happen?

S: Not really. Every once in a while they surprise me, but it doesn't run away from me.


E: How do you write, is it 'start with page one, scene one' and go through it in order; or just "whatever scene pops into your head" (and that might mean that you have the entire middle of your book written before you even start on the beginning)?

S: I start at the beginning and go straight through. I couldn't do it out of order. There are writers who can work that way, but I'm not one of them. I can't write Act II before Act I because I don't know what happened.


E: How do you plan your stories' "bones", or do you?

S: Usually I start with an idea - such as an emperor who wants to be a painter - and then I work on it until I have enough to begin.

The novel I am currently writing began with my desire to write something about time dimensions. Then I started asking the obvious questions: How are they opening these time dimensions? Who is opening them? To what end?

I settled on the idea that this was the project of a group of amoral scientists. And naturally, once they began opening these corridors to other time dimensions, they would need someone to go through. They would need a test dummy - emphasis on "test" and "dummy".

Thus was the hero born.


E: Have you tried any plotting, outlining, methods; and what works best to your way of thinking?

S: What works best varies from author to author. I'm inclined to think, though, that some measure of organization is always good.

I work with broad outlines. ("First the mortal captain leads a rebellion against his Fay overlords. Then they flee the country.") At intervals I have to fill in the sizable gaps, and I do what I call "plotting". I make notes about the story, putting questions to myself and trying to map the plot in more detail.

I write few scenes without having some notes to work on - what needs to happen, or thoughts on the atmosphere or viewpoint character. Sometimes I even scribble down rough lines of dialogue in my notes.


E: What is your worst writing trouble?

S: I have to work on transitions - little transitions, when characters go from one topic to another or one place to another within a scene.


E: What is your worst writing fault? How do you identify and rectify its effects?

S: I wish I knew. It's hard to judge one's own writing.

My greatest concern with my writing is that it is boring. One way I help this is to make the characters bolder or to sharpen their goals.


E: Hey! It's been great having you here! We've so enjoyed learning more about another writer's mental workings! Thanks for participating.

S: Thank you for the invitation.

Q&A: Doing NaNoWriMo?

Q: Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year?  A:  I do intend to do NaNoWriMo, but haven't settled on what will be nice and easy for my brain to play with, and not burn it out so bad as last time. I want to get the 50k words, because it's so much fun to participate with all the other WriMos out there, but I also don't want to exhaust my creativity, since it just finished up a hard job already this year. (Writing Traitor's Knife basically from March to December last, ready for Beta readers December through Jan; second readers late winter/early spring, final edits/etc, and a release date of July '13. My poor brain worked hard! )   (Many, many thanks to all those who helped out so much by Beta-ing, editing, etc throughout the process! You are the best!)  So, even though my creativity has been muchly taxed the past twelve months, I've had a bit of a rest, and a little vacation, and I don't want to miss out on the NaNo-ing  fun. So... Yes! I will be doing NaNoWriMo! I just have no idea what I'll be working on.
   Are any of you doing NaNoWriMo?

Traitor's Knife Celebration Giveaway Winners!

Okay, here it is!

The rafflecopter has spoken, and the first winner of the Traitor's Knife Celebration Giveaway is...


      Anna Baber!
 
 Congratulations, Anna!
 
 As first winner Anna has choice of the prizes and she picked the $25 gift certificate from Bajmy!
  So I will be sending Bajmy her address, and that will be showing up in her inbox soon!


 The second winner was...


   Valerie R.!


  Valerie R. chose the gift certificate from Seed & Sky for $32; and that will be showing up in her inbox soon as well!


 The third winner was....

 
  Carolsue E. and she picked the



Original Art
  
  
   $2 gift certificate from Sweet Things by Leoh
   or the mystery gift...
   which I have decided will be a free copy of the e-book Traitors' Knife itself!

Clean Authors 99cent Sale!

Hey!
  I've been included in the Clean Author's 99 cent Sale with Jeweler's Apprentice at the price point for a limited time only! 
  Both my books are up on their site, and will be even after the sale. It's a place for people to go to find clean reads, meaning no swearing, sex or R-rated violence.


Clean Authors Book Sale!
If you like clean reads and are looking for a good source, check out the lists on there! CleanAuthors.com
  A lot of the e-books are 99cents or FREE for a limited time only!

Giveaway Ends - 164 entries!

Woot! Woot! The Giveaway has officially ended... and with 164 entries!! Thanks guys, that is
 So appreciate all the excitement and support you guys have shared! I appreciate it!
 Now, we'll have to wait a bit to see who the winners are... but you can click and comment to tell us what You'd pick if you could take your choice! :-) Who knows, you could get your wish!


  Also, since we definitely went over a hundred entries, there will now be a special mystery prize included in the goodies, so we'll have to wait 'til later to see what that is and who wins it!

 Remember, all your entries will be tallied, and the lucky winners will be announced mid-September! Can't wait to see who they are! And what they get! ;-)
  (Always remember the important stuff... :-) )

 All of you entrants have signed up for the Announcements Only newsletter, so, when you receive the Confirm message, (if you haven't already) just click yes and you'll be in line to receive special notice of the winners right away!

   If you didn't enter in the giveaway, but would still like to get in on the Announcements Only, just click here and get yourself signed up to receive the upcoming special announcements!
    (Believe me, this will be very restricted... and has absolutely zero danger of flood your inbox!)

 Okay guys, signing off for now! Thanks so much for making this a great giveaway and a successful numbers! I love it!

   Have a terrific day, and remember...