Serg Koren's Blog, page 3
July 4, 2020
The Game Is Afoot - 1st DraftAs promised in the last post, here is the 1st draft. Again note, this...
As promised in the last post, here is the 1st draft. Again note, this is awful, as most 1st drafts are. This is even worse than most of my first attempts because writing sprints are about writing fast, not well.
Also note that this is not the Holmesian novel I’ve been working on.
The § is the scene marker my app uses.
The Without further ado, here is “The Game Is Afoot”
The Game Is Afoot
©2020 by S.Koren.
All rights reserved.
about 9000 words
§ - HOLMES -
“Watson, the ...
July 3, 2020
The Game Is Afoot - SprintingI’m going to do something I haven’t done before. I’m going to share a...
I’m going to do something I haven’t done before. I’m going to share a first draft. I’ve finished the short story that I threw together mostly to test and verify the sprint tracking code in my app. That works great. But that’s not the point of this post.
I’m posting the first draft of “The Game Is Afoot” because I want to show you that first drafts, as the saying goes, are crap. They have spelling and grammar mistakes, they barely hold together as a story, and have pl...
June 26, 2020
SprintingI’ve begun using my app to do writing sprints. I’m not only doing writing sprints for the...
I’ve begun using my app to do writing sprints. I’m not only doing writing sprints for the first time in my life, but I am also giving my logic a real-world test. The good news is I’m writing again and am enjoying writing sprints even though I hate writing to a deadline.
In the beginning, I thought a sprint was just a mini-deadline. It isn’t. It’s a way to reduce or eliminate distractions in a small chunk of time. Managing distractions while you write allows you to focus, but I need distr...
June 19, 2020
Writing Sprints
I haven’t done much writing this year. There, I’ve admitted it. With the virus, voluntary self-isolation, and all the unrest it has been difficult for me to focus and to be creative. I’ve planned, I’ve edited, I’ve done free-writing, but I have not been able to motivate myself to do any real work on my works-in-progress. Yes, I said works.
I have been reading a series of short books by Chris Fox (http: //chrisfoxwrites. com). One, 5,000 Words An Hour recommends continuous word sprints as a means ...
March 31, 2020
Mystery TropesI’m still brainstorming ideas for my Holmesian story. I decided to spend some time...
Mystery Tropes
Im still brainstorming ideas for my Holmesian story. I decided to spend some time making notes about the various tropes one finds in a typical mystery. It isnt a mystery unless you have some basics covered beyond clues and a reveal. This is what I came up with in no particular order.
Bad weather
Red herrings
Alibi - a suspect provides an alibi. A lot of times this alibi is disproved by the detective.
Underestimated character turns out to be the killer.
A letter, sometimes...
March 29, 2020
Brainstorming Sherlock HolmesFor years I’ve wanted to write a Sherlock Holmes story. I’ve always...
For years Ive wanted to write a Sherlock Holmes story. Ive always believed Im not good/clever enough to write a Sherlock Holmes story. Ive decided to write one.
It all started with a #throwawayline tweet I posted a few weeks ago: Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Burning Broomsticks. It was just a title and I threw it out because I liked the sound of it and because it was a play on Harry Potter titles. I thought no more of it for several weeks.
However, I kept...
March 21, 2020
TurmoilThe world is in turmoil.Our lives are in turmoil.Many of us are in self-isolation. We now...
Turmoil
The world is in turmoil.
Our lives are in turmoil.
Many of us are in self-isolation. We now have a lot more free time. We can use that time to whip that short story into shape, or to work on that novel you had planned but not started. You have more time to write. You sit downand nothing.
Thats what happened to me. I sat down to writeand nothing. Ive worked from home before. What was going on? Then it hit me. I do most of my writing in public places. I feed off the energy and get...
November 28, 2019
NaNoWriMo - 2019 - DoneHappy Thanksgiving to all of you who partake of the turkey.Ten years...
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who partake of the turkey.
Ten years straight, ten years a winner. I finished yesterday. In retrospect, most of the stuff I added, although interesting, doesnt add much to the core story I have. I will toss out most of what I wrote after I hit 30K and keep the story as a novella. Thats fine. One thing I dont want to do is force a good story into a bad novel.
Ill start editing late next year. My focus until then will be to finish the...
November 17, 2019
Plot Holes And PacingIt’s Day 17. I’m over 31K words. I’m taking the day off because I deserve it. I...
Its Day 17. Im over 31K words. Im taking the day off because I deserve it. I finished my story, not that I have finished (won) NaNoWriMo. The core story is done, as is the first draft, but I have many plot holes and issues I need to deal with.
Whats a plot hole? A plot hole is information that the reader needs that is missing from the plot, a hole in the plot. But you already knew that. The more interesting question is, why do plot holes exist and where do they come from? ...
November 15, 2019
#nanowrimo site is still borked. I have a streak of 10 for 10.The old site was reliable and easier...
#nanowrimo site is still borked. I have a streak of 10 for 10.
The old site was reliable and easier to navigate.
@nanowrimo #writing #web #ui #ux
