Loni Townsend's Blog, page 3

Will I Beat the Clock? #IWSG

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and the last Wednesday of the year. Much to my chagrin, I haven’t finished my book yet. It’s not for a lack of trying. I just spent three months trying to get one chapter to work correctly. After redoing it multiple times, I think I got it to an acceptable state so I can move on to the final battle.

But a month isn’t long at all.

I’ve got a plan laid out for the massive monster fight, but I thought I had a plan for the previous chapter that just wouldn’t work. So am I insecure? You bet.

There isn’t any consequence for not meeting my goal, other than feeling like a failure for having spent another year without a finished draft. I don’t have anyone clamoring for my next book. But I really thought this would be the year. *sigh*

IWSG Question of the Month – Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?

Maybe I’m misinterpreting the intention of this question, but to me, critiquing should come before publication. It’s intended to improve the story before its final version. If you’re going to tell the author what they did wrong, then have the courtesy of telling them in the privacy of email. However, I do think its fair to express your personal dislike of certain elements as a warning to other readers, but it’s a bit late to be telling the author what they should change, because the story’s already out there.

Are there any goals you’re still hoping to squeeze in before the end of the year? Did you accomplish anything cool this year? Are you looking forward to 2024?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Almost There #IWSG

Happy November everyone! I had really hoped to be announcing my success with book 2. Alas, life’s activities kept creeping in, and my visions for last few scenes never solidified. I did make major progress, though, and I overcame a mega scene hurdle that had me stuck for months. Woot! Now, all I have left are three chapters I have to work through, and then I’ll be able to tackle another set of problems concerning one POV’s flow. His chapters don’t fit with the other three until they intersect like at 75%, so it’s not a seamless transition and it’s giving me trouble. I’m not sure how I’ll handle it just yet. But my main goal is finishing these last three chapters before the end of the year. I think I can do that. *crosses fingers*

IWSG Question of the Month – November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

I have multiple times, and I’ve won multiple times, but dang has it caused a mess in the book that I’ve been trying to detangle for the past decade. I’d taken the pants route with NaNo, throwing in earth quakes and monster attacks whenever I hit a road block. I’d actually written most of the POV I now have to fix during NaNo events, and I think that’s part of the problem.

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? Do you ever write multiple POVs with different subplots? How do you get them to flow nicely?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Wrication #IWSG

Happy Insecure Writer’s Support Group day!

I’ll be slow to visit this week, because I’m on a wrication (that’s what I call it when I take vacation for the sole purpose of writing). My goal is to finish this version of the book this week. If you aren’t familiar with my struggles, I’ve had 6 versions of this book over the decade I’ve been working on it.

Version 1: Delves into the history of Derek’s parents
Version 2: The whole book is focused on Derek taking on a new role
Version 3: NANOWRIMO chaos with multiple earthquakes
Version 4: People are sick and Derek has to cure them
Version 5: Unsuccessful attempt to split the book in half leading to two years of no writing
Version 6: Monsters are killing everyone

I’ve got probably 4 chapters to write and then a lot of things to fix before I can consider myself in the editing phase. I cut a character and a box of weapons from my book, which led me to redo a handful of chapters and change a few fight mechanics. I also moved a character introduction, and shifted the timeline for Derek dealing with the voices in his head. The ripple effect is widespread, but I think it’s better for the book. My focus is maintaining my tension and keeping the plot on track. This book is currently 210K, and though that’s not out of the realm for my genre (Brandon Sanderson writes over 300K, sometimes 400K), I’m aware of tension problems in the first book and I don’t want to repeat my mistakes.

Hopefully, this time next month, I’ll be reporting that I’m done.

IWSG Question of the Month – The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts?

I’ve played around with Open AI to see what it’d generate for a character learning to access and use his power because I had to write a chapter where Cameron did the same thing. I didn’t like the writing. My inner editor gets picky about how things sound, and no matter the prompts, I couldn’t get AI to produce something I liked. After a few tries, I gave up. I went in searching for inspiration and came out wrinkling my nose.

I don’t mind AI tools–I use Pro Writing Aid all the time, and I’ll happily pick and choose its suggestions, which usually include comma placement. But I haven’t tried their generative features. I’ll look at the sections where the button that says “Suggest Rephrasing” pops up, but I rework the words myself if I feel it needs it.

Maybe someone else will produce a book that can replace me, but generative AI won’t replace what I write.

Have you ever taken a wrication? What do you think of AI? Wish me luck in finishing this version this week!

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

That Didn’t Go as Planned #IWSG

I had big plans for August. I was going to cut back on Red Bull, eat healthy, exercise, spend more time with my kids, and all around be super mom. A week into it, and everything got derailed.

My dog died on the 8th. Inu was old (15 years), and we were thinking he wouldn’t last another year. His mom and companion had died 4 years ago, and he was alone after that because he was cantankerous and surly and wouldn’t tolerate other dogs. He was going deaf and blind, and he’d gotten to the point where I had to carry him outside because more than once he missed a step down the stairs and tumbled to the bottom. That’s if he managed to wait until someone put him outside. But he was still my dog and I loved him. The emotional fallout of his death left me swearing off owning another dog for the foreseeable future.

Later that week, we went to a local garden/home/pet store and perused other furry pet options–ones that wouldn’t require being let outside and could occupy themselves while everyone was at work and school. We opted for a guinea pig. We looked up all the things we needed, then after acquiring all the necessary items, we returned to the store and brought home Marshmallow.

My daughter kicked into research mode. Guinea pigs are apparently social animals and require companionship, even though Marshmallow was alone at the store. We went to other stores in the same chain, and my son picked a young black and white guinea pig–Oreo.

Things went awry, there were arguments, and the end result was Marshmallow bullying Oreo and Oreo falling into guinea pig depression. We opted to deal with Oreo’s feelings by reuniting her with her cave mates, who we called Cocoa and Coffee.

Yes, we have 4 guinea pigs now.

I’m happy to say, Oreo came out of her funk and returned to eating and exploring. Marshmallow is in a separate cage in the same room, allowing her to interact with the herd without drawing blood (which she tried when we did group floor time). My husband is working on designing/building a multi-level structure that will allow the piggies to interact using ramps (no more than a 30 degree angle per my daughter’s research), but keeping Marshmallow separate with wire panels. This will hopefully regain some of our floor space as we currently have 24sqft dedicated to the fluffy potatoes.

August ended before I really knew what happened. I did stick to only one Red Bull a day, but nightly exercise and super mom duties flew out the window as we tried to manage the piggie drama. I’m now parenting a teenager, school is back in session, and homework stress has kicked into its usual high gear.

Seems like things aren’t going to let up any time soon.

IWSG Question of the Month – The IWSG celebrates 12 years today! When did you discover the IWSG, how do you connect, and how has it helped you?

I joined IWSG a decade ago, having discovered it after meeting Melissa Maygrove through a critique partner pair up event. She was doing it, and I thought I should too. It’s been a wonderful thing. I’ve connected with many different writers from all over the world through IWSG, and I’ve made some great online friends. It’s also the only time I blog anymore. So thank you Alex and the rest of the IWSG team for making this group possible.

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Mistakes Made #IWSG

The summer flew by, and I feel I accomplished a decent amount these past couple of months. I’ve taken the kids to the swimming pool, arcade, zoo, fun-zone amusement center, and we’ll be hitting the fair later this month. I’ve also made good progress on book 2, finally working out the details for my last few chapters. I still need to write them, but now I kind of know where I’m going with them. Woot!

Speaking of book 2…

IWSG Question of the Month – Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?

I know the question probably means feeling conflicted the moment you’ve written it, but for me, the conflict came years later, and I ruminate over it a lot as I write book 2.

The first conflict was easily solved. I used a derogatory term to name a group of my travelling people. I’ve since fixed this and renamed my group to Wayfarers.

The next two aren’t easily solved, and I’m just going to live with the fact that I’ve committed these writerly crimes and feel crappy for choosing to let them stay as is.

In book 1, I killed a gay character. This is a trope that I didn’t know existed until after I’d published. To make matters worse, the gay character’s role is to support the straight characters. As of book 2, he’s completely entwined in Derek’s story to the point that I can’t go back and unkill him. And his partner is an important secondary to another straight guy’s story, so I can’t go back and make him straight either. Now, one could argue, “Loni, you killed a dozen people in that book, and most even stayed dead!” But no matter what you say, I’ll still feel bad about it, and the fact that I’m not changing it.

The second crime wasn’t actually in book 1, but rather the Cera Chronicles. I’ve got a cannibalistic pygmy witchdoctor who wears a loin cloth, has filed teeth, speaks in a clicking language, and uses broken English. Yeah… Offensive stereotyping. I’m ashamed I had to have this pointed out to me. *hangs head* With some work, I could remove him from the Cera Chronicles, as someone once told me he’s the least necessary character, and I would agree. But he’s also in book 2 because of his connection to Derek, and unless I change the plot again, he’s going to stay. Right now, with how much work I’ve done just to get this version hammered out, I don’t think I want to redo it unless beta readers tells me it’s complete crap.

And on the topic of redoing… Tell me your thoughts on the latest version of my blurb.

She’s the ruler of the broken. He’s the breaker of the rules.

Derek stole the power of the deities to return MaTisha to life. Now, they want it back and they’ll render her a corpse to get it.

He scrambles for a solution to save his wife, but a fight with an immortal predator knocks him into the unknown. Stranded in a land of gods and magic, he must find a way home before he loses everyone he loves.

Meanwhile, MaTisha faces trouble of her own. Monsters are literally sucking the life out of her subjects, and her powers died with her in the war. But impotence isn’t resurrection’s only side effect. An insatiable thirst plagues her, and her closest companions are looking…tasty.

She’s determined to protect her people, but who will save them from her?

Any critiques on the blurb? How has your summer been? Have you committed any writerly sins?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Focus Problems #IWSG

Wow. July. The year’s already halfway gone. In June, school let out, I had to adjust to driving a different car because mine died, and I celebrated 17 years married to my husband. But this is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day, so I should probably talk about writing.

I’ve put a lot of focus into writing lately, and I have to say I’m a mess. I struggled with trying to enjoy my coworker’s story and after telling him the writing had to be much stronger for me to stay engaged, he nodded and agreed people have different tastes, and his writing isn’t for everyone. After that, I joined an online community called Critique Circle (CC) because I was left wondering if I even knew anything about writing or if I was just an arrogant schmuck. My goals were two part:

1. Assess the quality of my writing.
2. See if someone unfamiliar with my world and magic system could jump in and not be totally confused.

CC works on a credit system–you critique other people’s work to earn credits to post your own. They also encourage people to return critiques, tit-for-tat. Writing is broken down into genres and you can read the submission before you agree to critique it, which I found quite appealing.

I got a positive response to my prologue, but it seems my chapter 1 falls on the boring side. *sigh* I’ve got ideas to fix it, but it made me think of my first book and the tension problems I know exist. As a result, I cracked open Thanmir War and winced at what I found. It needs a complete rewrite, addressing subplot problems, as well as the telling and other issues. But I really need to focus on book 2 right now. As I dive into my early chapters with CC, while sprucing up my later chapters for my local critique group, I’ve let actual writing fall by the wayside, thus leaving me a disorganized mess. Not great when I had hoped to finish writing book 2 this year.

IWSG Question of the Month – Where do [your story ideas] predominantly come from?

Long time ago, at the tender age of 13, I was enamored with a show called Sailor Moon (so much so that I sewed my own sailor skirts and wore them to school every day in 8th grade). My favorite characters were the intelligent Ami and the passionate Rei. They wielded water and fire respectively. Plus there was that stud muffin, Darian (at least that was his name in the version I watched), and a talking cat named Luna. That’s where it all began. Eventually, I ended up with elementals instead of Sailor Soldiers, transforming animals that could speak, and my own D-named character of Derek who was supposed to be just as swoon worthy (except really he’s not).

The Cera Chronicles also stem from a TV Show–Sliders, my high school obsession. The idea that the same cast could wind up in a brand new setting, facing the strangest of situations… that’s just plain fun. And since I was already crossing worlds with Derek, it wasn’t a stretch to do it with his daughter.

Oh, another fun fact: Cera’s name comes from Land Before Time… Cera the Triceratops.

Today’s ideas come less from TV shows and more from interacting with others. I misread a friend’s line and it spawned a piece of flash fiction. I tried to convey to someone how to show vs tell and ended up with a short story (with no plot, though). Talking with a critique group member triggered Just a Matter of Time. I never know what might pop a story into my head.

What tends to trigger your ideas? Have you ever joined Critique Circle? Do you ever get derailed because of critiques?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Loss #IWSG

Earlier this week, I was thinking of my critique partner–Ken Rahmoeller. Many of you know him as he’s been a member of the IWSG for longer than me. I had the honor of beta-reading his novel and I enjoyed his Hogwarts fan fiction on WattPad, even though it remains unfinished. I even got to read his reader magnet short story.

I hadn’t heard from Ken in a while. It was with terrible sadness that I . He’d opened up in December about his late-stage brain cancer. It’d been a couple months since he’d last posted, but I kept hoping for the best.

Finding that obituary online was a depressing blow.

In the wake of that, I didn’t feel my planned post answering the question of the month was really appropriate. How could I switch to a happy tone of family life, art projects, and writing progress when I found out my friend was dead?

So I’m not going to. I’m skipping the question of the month and reflecting on Ken’s impact on my life and writing.

He was an excellent writer. One of the things I liked best was the voice he infused in his work. He had a couple different styles–one for his fanfic, another for his urban fantasy. Both were engaging and entertaining. I hope his family takes the steps to publish his novel, Accidental Alchemist, because it was well done and creative. I count myself lucky to have been a beta-reader.

He was also a great critique partner. He could spot things I couldn’t, like when I included too much information that wasn’t necessary or when I didn’t include details to make the story understandable. It always makes sense in my head, so his input was invaluable. He was also kind with his honesty. Maybe that came from his tutoring side job and I was another student who didn’t quite get the nuances. Regardless, he was helpful, encouraging, and inspirational.

I’m sad he passed, and my thoughts are with his family. I’ll miss him.

Did you know Ken? Do you have any thoughts to share? Have you ever lost anyone within your writing circle?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Loni the Cruel #IWSG

April was an eventful month for the writerly aspects of my life. I made significant progress on my book 2, I had three people quit my critique group, I discovered my coworker is also a writer, and I was a hyper-critical, dare I say cruel, beta-reader for not one, but two stories.

*sigh*

I know there’s a tactful way to deliver feedback, but I don’t feel I achieved that in April. It’s especially awkward in person, as I rambled at double speed about where I felt my coworker’s first two chapters didn’t live up to their potential. I’ve actively avoided conflict all my life and delivering criticism about plot holes, believability, and–this one is me, the pot, calling the kettle black–having too many characters isn’t an easy task. It doesn’t help that I’ve got a voice screaming in my brain. Who are you to tell anyone that their work is anything but perfection? Who are you to pass that kind of judgment? Especially when I saw the same problems in my first book.

And what’s worse is that I know my perception doesn’t always reflect popular opinion. There are highly rated books that I DNF, and works that people rave over that I find just okay. What if I say something to a fellow writer, and that something is wrong?

Mid-month, I also suffered a crisis of confidence. I desperately wanted external validation, to have someone read my story and say “this is good.” Except my story isn’t finished, so they can’t read it, so I can’t get validation, and aaaaaahhhhhh!

I think that’s related to how cruel I’ve been with my feedback. What if I don’t know crap about writing? What if all the feedback I give is harmful because it’s clear, by my own writing, that I don’t know anything about the craft?

You’d think that, after a decade of running a critique group, I’d be better at this kind of thing. Or maybe it’s because I’m no good at it that I lost three people in one month. (I know that’s not the case. People have lives and lives are demanding. But the irrational spiral of despair still flings this stuff at me.) *hangs head*

I’m also convinced that there are only two people in the entire world who might possibly want to read my story. Everyone else who reads it will do so out of perceived obligation. (Maybe that’s not true, but it’s what my brain tells me.) Most people I know don’t enjoy or choose to read massive tomes of multi-POV epic fantasy. I honestly don’t know where to find people who do, but they must be out there considering Brandon Sanderson and GRRM’s success. But before I even attempt to find them, I need to finish my darn book. And, oh look, I’m spiraling again.

IWSG Question of the Month – When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

There’s not anything in particular that inspires me. Sometimes it’s music. Sometimes it’s a prompt. Sometimes it’s a focused effort to demonstrate something. (One short story I wrote purely as an exercise of show, don’t tell. It didn’t have a plot, but that wasn’t my intention going in.)

Do you ever feel horrible after giving feedback? How do you pull yourself out of a spiral? Do you know anyone who enjoys reading multi-POV fantasy epics that are 200K+?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Exposition Addict #IWSG

Hello everyone. My name is Loni and I have a problem with oversharing.

I recently got feedback on a chapter from my critique group and the general consensus was “too much exposition”. Easy enough to deal with. I’ve already removed two-thirds. I needed to keep one piece, so I asked for help from my gang and after discussion it clicked in my brain how to make it work. I adjusted without complaint and moved on.

The thing is… Shouldn’t I have learned by now? If someone is actively working on their craft and they keep making the same mistakes–are they just not trying hard enough?

I can’t recognize when I have too much exposition in my own writing. I can with other authors. It tormented me when I went through the prologues of the first couple of books of the Belgariad. Gah. Definitely too much for me there. But dang if I don’t have the same problem.

And I’ve heard all the advice. “Only add it when its relevant.” “Use it when it’s useful in that moment, otherwise leave it out.” I know all that, so I don’t need tips or suggestions of when or when not to include it. The problem is I’m incapable of identifying how much people-who-aren’t-me need, and to my group who have helped me with my writing for a full decade, it possibly looks like I’m ignoring all their excellent help. That’s not the case. I know I have a problem, but I can’t recognize when it creeps up.

How does one address a problem they can’t see within themselves? Because exposition’s not the only problem I have. I could also discuss inappropriately unconcerned characters, but it’s the same story–I can’t tell if the character is underreacting. I can only react to the feedback and fix it after I’m informed.

And speaking of reacting…

IWSG Question of the Month – Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you?

Once upon a time, I had thought being a full-time professional writer might be a thing I wanted. It’s not. The traditional route held no appeal and after researching, I opted to go with doing it myself. I probably shouldn’t have. My first book has so many issues that I cringe over now, and I do my best to deter people from reading it. I don’t stop them, but I recommend going in with low expectations. This next book will be better (at least it darned well better be for all the effort I’ve put into it), but I don’t intend to market it for personal reasons. There will be 3 more books, and a companion novel, and possibly novellas. But career? Eh, nope. I’m happy as a programmer.

Before I go, I will leave you with my latest finished artwork. An art discord group (Paintable) has a monthly project and March’s was Sorceress of the Forest. Ira might turn mass murderess eventually, but at the point in the picture, she hasn’t done anything to earn the label villain yet.

Ira before she started killing people.

Have you found problems in your writing that you can’t identify yourself? Do you ever feel like you aren’t growing? What areas do you hope to grow in?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Keep On Marching On #IWSG

I think the world was against me posting this morning. First, a nightmare scared my son, and I spent extra time snuggling with him, consuming most of my morning me-time. Then I got a 403 Forbidden message when I tried to access the admin section of my website. That seems to happen yearly, so I no longer panic and freak out. Then my laptop wanted to run updates and pester me while I write. And before I made progress, my old puppy emerged from his sleeping quarters, and he’s old enough that I can’t delay in letting him out or I’ll be cleaning up after him. On top of that, several inches of snow covered my car and the roads, meaning I had to leave for work early, also cutting into my time.

It’s been quite the morning.

But here we are! Insecure Writer’s Support Group day!

Writing wise, I haven’t accomplished much in the past month. I got stuck on a scene and it’s taken me a while to figure out how to tackle it. I’m going to have to sprinkle a bit of the magic I’m using for it throughout the rest of the book so it doesn’t look like it comes from nowhere, but I think I have my way forward.

In the meantime, I’ve been distracting myself with art. (You can see my art on either Deviant Art or Instagram.)

I showed off Derek’s portrait last month. In February, I added MaTisha, LaTonya, and Cameron to my portrait collection.

They are redos of 2019 versions of the same characters–my POVs for book 2 and the voices that often occupy my headspace. I also scribbled a scene from chapter 1’s opening lines:

   Landing in the river hadn’t been planned. He’d been aiming to materialize in the clearing. At least he’d undershot the cliff by a half-mile—that’d given him time to drag himself out of the water before the falls swept him over the edge and into the next province.
   “Just envision yourself there, she said.” Derek squeezed his shirt out onto the bank. Droplets splashed against the grasses and low-hanging palms. “Trust in the Drethamir, she said. They’ll see you safely delivered.”
   Except the elemental gods had yet to place him precisely where he wanted.

The frog on his shoulder isn’t in the book, but I felt the little critter went well with the scene.

IWSG Question of the Month – Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

I know there have been quite a few zingers in books I read, but it’s not so much author envy I experience, but an admiration of other people’s skill. I’ve enjoyed several lines from the Locked Tomb, Lady Sherlock, and the Parasol Protectorate series. But again, it’s not envy, but sheer enjoyment and awe. I applaud these authors for entertaining me and aspire to achieve the same with my own work.

Has March started out well for you? What are some of your favorite lines? Is there an author who continues to impress you with their word play?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.