A.M. Jenkins's Blog, page 16

To quote Scooby Doo: Ruh-roh. No work done yesterday, and...

To quote Scooby Doo: Ruh-roh. No work done yesterday, and only 800 the day before.

However, this presents me with a good challenging exercise, because what I must do is quit pausing to ensure that events and characters are following the world's rules and making sense in the context I've been given. I need to just start writing the damn story. So that's my challenge to myself: if I come to a place where I don't know my given parameters, then instead of stopping to figure out exactly what they ...

Around 2800 words over three days. Oh dear. I do feel lik...

Around 2800 words over three days. Oh dear. I do feel like I'm getting a grip on the background material, though. The background is very complicated and a little intimidating, and requires a lot of reading.

Worked on former GN a little, but the voice keeps lapsing back into default, which is isn't helpful because that's the same old rut I've been in for several years now. Today's theory is that if I write this ms every single way it can possibly be written, eventually all that's left will be ...

Added 3300+ words to ms yesterday. Most of them involved ...

Added 3300+ words to ms yesterday. Most of them involved copying, pasting, and typing stuff from the bible/outline and other reference materials, to help me stay on track. But I counted them as my own words so that I could reward myself with a little work on the former GN.

I kind of like where this new tack is taking me with the former GN. I think it has potential. If nothing else, it's shaking me out of the mental rut I was in. I'm having to restructure the beginning* and make it more grabby...

I was bad on Wed. and only did 250 words. Yesterday I was...

I was bad on Wed. and only did 250 words. Yesterday I was good and did 400--that 400 was during an hour grabbed in the middle of a busy day, which is why it's good.

Now my word count is about to go out the window because I'm going to copy and paste huge pieces of the bible/outline in hopes that I can work faster by jumping around. I keep having to stop and look stuff up, but if I jump around I might be able to work on one story thread at various places in the ms and focus on following it thr...

Now I remember why I never do word counts. Yesterday it a...

Now I remember why I never do word counts. Yesterday it appears that I wrote 2000 words, but I'm sure it was more like 800 because I copied and pasted pieces from the story bible to keep me on track. Plus I rewrote parts, trimming them considerably to make them fit together more smoothly, so my word count went backwards sometimes. Word counts never mean squat, where my writing is concerned.

Still, will pretend they do mean something for now, because I will surely hit the keyboard daily to avo...

No writing at all yesterday. 2800 w-f-h words today. I'm ...

No writing at all yesterday. 2800 w-f-h words today.

I'm not allowing myself to work on my own stuff on any given day until that day's w-f-h quota is met. I may not be working on my own stuff for a looooong time. After I've written that many words, I don't want to write any more.

Now I need to settle in and write an average of 2000-2500...

Now I need to settle in and write an average of 2000-2500 (or more; more is even better) words per day on the w-f-h novel.

Today: 2000+

Also decided to change up the ending of chapter five of the dystopian ms, in an effort to keep it moving. I went in and quickly cut out one short scene, cut half of another, and ended on the gun going off. Will have to see later what effect that gives; no time to read it over for flow right now.

The w-f-h novel shouldn't be too bad; I like the character, and p...

Have been tinkering with the former GN. Pulled the ending...

Have been tinkering with the former GN. Pulled the ending to the front...and am stuck there, not knowing how to lead into the old beginning.

I seem to keep running into the same problem of balance in all three of my current WIPs. All three require world-building and backstory, and I keep hitting the same wall, over and over again: at some point the story slows down too much.

And now that I think about it, this probably relates at least partially to my old nemesis, transitions. Either I'm leapi...

Was discussing former GN with a fellow writer, who wonder...

Was discussing former GN with a fellow writer, who wondered if the problem of boringness might be solved by starting with the last section of the book and interspersing the current story along the way as vignettes or flashbacks. I am very interested in this suggestion and will be considering it in depth when I have the time, which won't be for a week at least. Well, I won't have the time then, either, but it's interesting enough that I'll probably make time when I shouldn't.

Partial of 60+ pages, first five chapters, done and sent....

Partial of 60+ pages, first five chapters, done and sent. It's as good as I can get it right now. So that's off my mind for a while, probably. Unless agent tells me I screwed up and have to fix something.