Adrian Faulkner's Blog, page 2
October 23, 2021
Strategy Session – The Climb #973
It’s been an odd sort of day today.
I’ve been running a secret little project the past couple of weeks. The reason it’s secret is because it’s been a challenge to myself – to step into an area of writing I know nothing about and prove myself.
I won’t go into details, but in some ways it’s not been a great year for my writing (in others it’s been a great year). I had my confidence knocked, and yes, I dusted myself off and carried on going, but I think there was so...
October 22, 2021
An Important Lesson – The Climb #972
Today I learnt a really important lesson. It’s a lesson I already know but I obviously need reminding.
Always read the submission guidelines.
Today I put a couple of hours into a script. I was super pleased with how it turned out and was pleased with myself that I’d written something that, save a read thru and quick edit, was complete before the deadline. I was really pleased with myself for not leaving it until the last minute.
And then guess what I find out?
I g...
October 21, 2021
The Perception Of Time – The Climb #971
If there’s one thing I can never seem to get right, it’s the time I take to do various writing related tasks. I’m always over optimistic.
My plan was to finish one scene on a secret project and then edit the 10 or so thousand words by lunchtime. But it took me all day and whilst I could tick this project off, I find myself with a load of other stuff I wanted to do, left undone. I’d hoped to work on another project, do a bit of learning, and even start laying out the...
October 20, 2021
Re-Squirt-ch Day – The Climb #970
Today was a research day for The Worthy. A large reason for this is that today in World of Warcraft it was Super Squirt day.
Super Squirt day is the clash of two separate events that massively boosts the XP gained from Pet Battles in World of Warcraft. It’s one of the best ways to level battle pets and you can get them to max level in 2 goes.
Whilst I’ve not been playing much Warcraft lately, I’ve wanted to level my battle pets so I clear my entire day for Super Sq...
Validations – The Climb #969
I’ve spent a lot of time over the pandemic widening my skills. I think it’s very easy to be good at one thing, but then be unable to have much breadth as a writer, because you just stay in your lane. Not every project needs every skill, but I think being versatile as a writer is needed in today’s climate.
I’m getting immense validation from trying these other things. First, I’m doing them without internal pressure. I’m allowing myself to fail, because these are new...
October 18, 2021
Better Outlines – The Climb #958
One thing I’m very conscious about having completed the First Draft of The Accursed is the outline.
The entire story came about quicker than they would normally, and whilst I think I did a good job of outlining it, I ended up chopping off the last third. That was good for the time it took to write the first draft, but it’s left me thinking that this will take quite a bit of work to edit.
As a result, I’ve been looking at outlining tools today.
My usual process is to...
October 17, 2021
Building Boats Instead of Cars – The Climb #967
A novel is a big complex thing. It’s a bit like a car. You put your foot on the accelerator; the car moves forward. But underneath that, to make that happen, there’s complex engineering.
I’ve always been seeking efficiencies in my writing. From building systems for tracking and accountability, to processes to maximise my word count, to swap from being a pantser to a plotter… I’ve looked at the process of writing a novel, and tried to be more efficient.
I don’t w...
October 16, 2021
I Thought I’d F**ked Up! – The Climb #966
I thought I’d fucked up today.
Since the pandemic started I’ve really been trying to diversify my writing. I’ve tried a number of different mediums, and as is to be expected, more often than not things go wrong.
For me, especially as someone who likes to plan to the point of procrastination, being able to execute quickly and learn through mistakes is an important lesson. I don’t go in blind, I do my research, but there’s only so much you can learn before you have to...
October 15, 2021
Working Fast – The Climb #965
This has actually been quite a busy week. I’m deep in the trenches on a deadline, and I suspect that if I get this push done by Sunday, I’m going to have another push next week on some spec scripts for open submissions.
What this recent piece of work has really been teaching me is how to work fast. It’s more about speed than quality (although quality is still important) but it’s forcing me to be more accurate with my first drafts. Writing fast and accurate is the ...
October 14, 2021
Typing Speed – The Climb #964
I spent time working on a secret project yesterday. Despite starting late and having a bunch of other distractions, I still managed close to 7000 words.
As a result of this and other drama not directly involving me, I didn’t get a lot else done. Not that 7000 words isn’t a lot.
I’ve got a busy few days ahead of me. I’ve got a lot of work to do and as a result, I’m focused on that, and most of it I can’t and may never be able to talk about. It’s all good though....
