Adrian D. Roberts's Blog, page 4
February 7, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
Half day yesterday. I needed to go into town and get a few bits, stools for my daughter so she can reach the toilet, comics, coffee, ladder brace, bank, etc. I didn't muck around and after a half hour weight/calisthenics session I was at my desk for work at 8.00 am. My target was a solid 2,500 words. With what I'd done the rest of the week it would keep me on the 25,000 weekly budget. I nailed it at 3,500 words and nicely finished the chapter.
Other than that it was a quiet day. I got almost everything I wanted while out. I did blow off my last stop. I want some rose bushes for the garden and the place is about 15 mins away from home. My last stop was 200m away from my house and I really couldn't be bothered. Plus when I drop my daughter off later today I'll only be 5 mins from the rose place so it makes more sense to do it after she's back with her mother.
It did let me have a very relaxing hour an a half drinking fresh coffee and reading this month's comics. I'm mainly a DC fan reading most of the Batman, Wonder Woman and JLA stuff, but I have to admit the first comics I read each month are always IDW's Transformers - Robots in Disguise, More Than Meets the Eye and currently Drift's run. It's silly I know, but they are good fun and well written. It does help that I've been a Transformers fan all my life.
Friday was finished off with watching the last three episodes of Firefly while drinking a couple of beers. I got into Firefly a little late, I saw Serenity at the cinema and then bought the box set. The writing on that is just incredible, all the way through it's funny, poignant, topical, light hearted, then serious and back to light hearted again so smoothly you don't notice.
Two films that I can watch again and again are Serenity and Avengers Assemble. Joss Whedon is a genius and the type of writer I can only hope to be in my most fantastical dreams.
My daughter is due from her dance class soon so I've got to go.
Total now at 82,000 words.
Other than that it was a quiet day. I got almost everything I wanted while out. I did blow off my last stop. I want some rose bushes for the garden and the place is about 15 mins away from home. My last stop was 200m away from my house and I really couldn't be bothered. Plus when I drop my daughter off later today I'll only be 5 mins from the rose place so it makes more sense to do it after she's back with her mother.
It did let me have a very relaxing hour an a half drinking fresh coffee and reading this month's comics. I'm mainly a DC fan reading most of the Batman, Wonder Woman and JLA stuff, but I have to admit the first comics I read each month are always IDW's Transformers - Robots in Disguise, More Than Meets the Eye and currently Drift's run. It's silly I know, but they are good fun and well written. It does help that I've been a Transformers fan all my life.
Friday was finished off with watching the last three episodes of Firefly while drinking a couple of beers. I got into Firefly a little late, I saw Serenity at the cinema and then bought the box set. The writing on that is just incredible, all the way through it's funny, poignant, topical, light hearted, then serious and back to light hearted again so smoothly you don't notice.
Two films that I can watch again and again are Serenity and Avengers Assemble. Joss Whedon is a genius and the type of writer I can only hope to be in my most fantastical dreams.
My daughter is due from her dance class soon so I've got to go.
Total now at 82,000 words.
February 5, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
Today was a good day at a solid 5,000 words. It seems I ran into the same problem as last week. I needed to stop and work out the next bit. I'm mainly a discovery writer, where I don't plan what happens next and this has it's good points and bad. I saw both today.
A couple of days ago I wanted to add a dream sequence, but I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the scene so I skipped it. Not entirely sure what I wanted to write today, I went back and did that. Half way through the dream I suddenly realised that the first line of the next section I wrote two days ago fit perfectly. That sounds like what should happen and you'd be right. The weird thing is that I didn't plan it. I was going to adjust the first few paragraphs as necessary and completely without meaning to I didn't.
The bad part of being a discovery writer is what I was talking about yesterday. Getting the characters out of the trouble I've put them into. I thought about it all night and most of this morning and all the solutions I came up with didn't fit. They would either looked forced or too easy. I was chucking things onto the whiteboard and it came to me, fitting in with a couple of other bits I had in play. I think the solution is quite elegant. I hope you agree when you read it.
One thing I noticed today is my propensity to use female leads. I have a fairly even split with 130 named male characters and 101 females. Don't worry, it's not Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), a lot either don't have speaking parts or only say a sentence or two. With that kind of split I was surprised to find myself writing a scene with five main characters in a room, all talking and all women. Completely unplanned. OK three of them were Valerie, Hanna and Deni, but still.
I also had a bit of a Eureka moment today. I was struggling with a scene and it just seemed out of kilter, it didn't feel right. Then I realised if I switched it with the previous one, it made perfect sense. That saved me a lot of heart ache in rewriting stuff.
Something that is concerning me at the moment is I'm running out of space. I'm past the halfway mark and by this point in the last two books I'm well into my big set piece. I haven't started on that in Revolution. I may need to cut some stuff out. Oh well, other than seven post it's on my cork board I really don't know what I'm going to write so who knows. It may all work out. It did on the last two.
It's 9.00 pm and time to call it a night - total now at 78,000 words.
A couple of days ago I wanted to add a dream sequence, but I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the scene so I skipped it. Not entirely sure what I wanted to write today, I went back and did that. Half way through the dream I suddenly realised that the first line of the next section I wrote two days ago fit perfectly. That sounds like what should happen and you'd be right. The weird thing is that I didn't plan it. I was going to adjust the first few paragraphs as necessary and completely without meaning to I didn't.
The bad part of being a discovery writer is what I was talking about yesterday. Getting the characters out of the trouble I've put them into. I thought about it all night and most of this morning and all the solutions I came up with didn't fit. They would either looked forced or too easy. I was chucking things onto the whiteboard and it came to me, fitting in with a couple of other bits I had in play. I think the solution is quite elegant. I hope you agree when you read it.
One thing I noticed today is my propensity to use female leads. I have a fairly even split with 130 named male characters and 101 females. Don't worry, it's not Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), a lot either don't have speaking parts or only say a sentence or two. With that kind of split I was surprised to find myself writing a scene with five main characters in a room, all talking and all women. Completely unplanned. OK three of them were Valerie, Hanna and Deni, but still.
I also had a bit of a Eureka moment today. I was struggling with a scene and it just seemed out of kilter, it didn't feel right. Then I realised if I switched it with the previous one, it made perfect sense. That saved me a lot of heart ache in rewriting stuff.
Something that is concerning me at the moment is I'm running out of space. I'm past the halfway mark and by this point in the last two books I'm well into my big set piece. I haven't started on that in Revolution. I may need to cut some stuff out. Oh well, other than seven post it's on my cork board I really don't know what I'm going to write so who knows. It may all work out. It did on the last two.
It's 9.00 pm and time to call it a night - total now at 78,000 words.
February 4, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance & Revenge
Another day and another 6,000 words written. The day started very well with 3,000 words in the morning. The afternoon was harder though. At one point I was writing a sentence, stopping for a few seconds, write a sentence, stop, write, stop. I lost the constant flow that's there when I'm really into the story. I'm sure why, I was really enjoying the story. Maybe I was overly tired from yesterday, after an easier day today, hopefully I'll be more in tune tomorrow.
Now that I'm working on the third book, something I particularly like is having hard copies of the previous books at my elbow. Not only are they excellent reference points, much better than trawling through a word document or digging up data from a spreadsheet, they are a real incentive. A constant reminder of 'hey I did it' OK very few people are buying them, but still. I'm proud of what I've achieved. I can point to these and perhaps more later on and say 'I did that'.
There was one particularly nice piece of news today. I won £80 on the lottery. How about that? I never win anything.
Now I just need to work out how I'm going to get everyone out of the corner I've painted them into. That's pretty much what I do. I create a challenging scenario, throw the characters in and then work out how they're going to get out. I think I may have out done myself with this one. I've yet to rewrite the rules but I may be forced to here. I can't see a way out. Never mind, I'll sleep on it and something normally comes to mind, a flash of inspiration or some such.
I mentioned about Emily/Amanda's father in Revenge last week. They didn't come close to resolving it this week. I'm going to give them two more before I get annoyed. Emily's far too smart a character to allow it to go any further than that.
Total now at 73,000 words. Almost halfway.
Now that I'm working on the third book, something I particularly like is having hard copies of the previous books at my elbow. Not only are they excellent reference points, much better than trawling through a word document or digging up data from a spreadsheet, they are a real incentive. A constant reminder of 'hey I did it' OK very few people are buying them, but still. I'm proud of what I've achieved. I can point to these and perhaps more later on and say 'I did that'.
There was one particularly nice piece of news today. I won £80 on the lottery. How about that? I never win anything.
Now I just need to work out how I'm going to get everyone out of the corner I've painted them into. That's pretty much what I do. I create a challenging scenario, throw the characters in and then work out how they're going to get out. I think I may have out done myself with this one. I've yet to rewrite the rules but I may be forced to here. I can't see a way out. Never mind, I'll sleep on it and something normally comes to mind, a flash of inspiration or some such.
I mentioned about Emily/Amanda's father in Revenge last week. They didn't come close to resolving it this week. I'm going to give them two more before I get annoyed. Emily's far too smart a character to allow it to go any further than that.
Total now at 73,000 words. Almost halfway.
February 3, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
Hooeee. 8,500 words today. That is an unbelievably stupendous day. I'd need to check this blog, but I'm pretty sure that is a new record. I just agonised myself with a quick calculation. If I did that regularly, I could complete a first draft in a month rather the two I currently budget. Of course that is impossible for several reasons.
Firstly, it's been an eleven out day and I am knackered. My hands are stiff from ten hours solid writing (hour break for lunch) and my back is sore. Not too bad thanks to my investing in a decent chair, but still noticeable.
The reason I pushed so hard today is because I failed the last two. By the end of Thursday, I was 3,000 words ahead of schedule and well on my way to saving a full day. Friday came along and I wussed out at midday - 2,500 words. Monday wasn't much better, after a rough morning working out plot stuff, I let myself get distracted by youtube videos for most of the afternoon. Another 2,500 words. So I was now 1,500 words behind schedule.
There is nothing like a whiff of desperation to get you going and I was determined to get back on schedule today. I set myself a stretching, but achievable 6,500 words. Here we are and I have blown it away and 2,000 ahead again. A good day tomorrow and I can look forward to gaining that day.
Now I really do need to stop writing. It's getting painful.
Total now at 67,000 words.
Firstly, it's been an eleven out day and I am knackered. My hands are stiff from ten hours solid writing (hour break for lunch) and my back is sore. Not too bad thanks to my investing in a decent chair, but still noticeable.
The reason I pushed so hard today is because I failed the last two. By the end of Thursday, I was 3,000 words ahead of schedule and well on my way to saving a full day. Friday came along and I wussed out at midday - 2,500 words. Monday wasn't much better, after a rough morning working out plot stuff, I let myself get distracted by youtube videos for most of the afternoon. Another 2,500 words. So I was now 1,500 words behind schedule.
There is nothing like a whiff of desperation to get you going and I was determined to get back on schedule today. I set myself a stretching, but achievable 6,500 words. Here we are and I have blown it away and 2,000 ahead again. A good day tomorrow and I can look forward to gaining that day.
Now I really do need to stop writing. It's getting painful.
Total now at 67,000 words.
January 28, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
Phew, another great day and 6,400 words written. The story is really gaining momentum now and ideas are coming thick and fast. I've found the same thing with the last two books. Getting started is hard, but once I'm into my stride things start taking a life of their own. Scene's in the next chapter/section and even at the end are turning up in my head constantly. The corkboard is filling up nicely with notes.
It is hard work though. I'm putting in 10 or 11 hour days. This morning, for example, I started at 8.00 am (I didn't exercise) and only stopped at 6.00 pm due to it being Karate day. There was only a half an hour break for lunch as well. Saying that, it does feel fantastic to be making such good progress.
I have to admit, I was distracted for about 15 mins by twitter. Jewel Strait posted something about Fleek. I had no idea what it meant, so I had to look it up. Turns out it means good, I guess. An old girlfriend of a friend of mine had a degree in English and became an English teacher. She used to moan about people not using 'proper English'.
This always bugged me. Language changes and evolves over time and not much time either. Look at how far we have come from Latin. We only codified English in the last couple of hundred years. The first English dictionary was published in 1604 and not a lot of people had access to it. So hello to Freek, if it survives in common usage, welcome to the English Language.
I took delivery of the soundtracks from Guardians of the Galaxy and Pacific Rim today. From what I heard today, they are good albums. Pacific Rim seems just right for me as writing background. I find dramatic music really lifts me when I'm writing.
Oops, I need to get to Karate.
Total now at 48,000 words.
It is hard work though. I'm putting in 10 or 11 hour days. This morning, for example, I started at 8.00 am (I didn't exercise) and only stopped at 6.00 pm due to it being Karate day. There was only a half an hour break for lunch as well. Saying that, it does feel fantastic to be making such good progress.
I have to admit, I was distracted for about 15 mins by twitter. Jewel Strait posted something about Fleek. I had no idea what it meant, so I had to look it up. Turns out it means good, I guess. An old girlfriend of a friend of mine had a degree in English and became an English teacher. She used to moan about people not using 'proper English'.
This always bugged me. Language changes and evolves over time and not much time either. Look at how far we have come from Latin. We only codified English in the last couple of hundred years. The first English dictionary was published in 1604 and not a lot of people had access to it. So hello to Freek, if it survives in common usage, welcome to the English Language.
I took delivery of the soundtracks from Guardians of the Galaxy and Pacific Rim today. From what I heard today, they are good albums. Pacific Rim seems just right for me as writing background. I find dramatic music really lifts me when I'm writing.
Oops, I need to get to Karate.
Total now at 48,000 words.
January 27, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance, Revenge and Empire Magazine
A great day today. 6,000 words written, though it was a push and I won't be going to see Taken 3 tonight. Partly because it is gone seven and I've only just put dinner on. By the time I cook, east and do the washing up it will be too late. It's mainly though as I didn't exercise this morning. I'd like to say it's down to my muscles aching from yesterday or the background head ache I had all morning. None of that is the truth. It's really beacause I couldn't be bothered. Oh well. Try again tomorrow.
SPOILERS TO TV SHOW REVENGE
Since I wasn't going to exercise, I watched last night's episode of Revenge instead this morning. Last week we saw David Clarke standing over Emily's sleeping form and when he hesitated I thought he recognised her. This made me excited to watch the next one. What would he say to Victoria that she is pitting him against his own daughter?
Needless to say I was disappointed at first when it all seemed to go back on track for Victoria. Then came David's big reveal to the Police, Emily's emotion at seeing her father alive, keeping them apart and then the press conference. You could see where it was going by then. I just hope they don't string it out too much.
I love Revenge because the characters aren't stupid. They don't do things because the story needs to be delayed or stretched out. If things go wrong it is due to forces outside their control.
For Emily, seeing her father isn't difficult and convincing him she is his daughter maybe a struggle, but all it would take is some real details from childhood, particularly with Nolan backing her up. I'm not sure what Jack's up to. If they don't do that in a reasonable amount of time, it's going to ruin it for me.
Speaking of ruining and Taken 3 earlier, for some reason I looked up Empire Magazines review and saw it had two stars, the same as Taken 2 and I could understand that. I enjoyed Taken 2, but it didn't really bring anything new to the table. What shocked me was the Review for Taken. They gave it one star and one of the worst reviews I've ever read. Mostly they complained about how the film makers portrayed Europe as being too dangerous for Americans, with every single person a crook or corrupt. That describes every Thriller and Action film/TV show out there. It's kind of the whole point. A lone hero against the world.
It's the same in 24, Die Hard, the Bourne films, Bond, etc, etc. I do have different tastes to Empire, it's true. Where I see an enjoyable film worth a couple of hours of my time and money, they slate it because the acting’s pour and the story is uninspired. Sometimes I just like to see lots of things blow up.
Anyway rant over and dinner's almost ready - Total now a 42,000 words.
SPOILERS TO TV SHOW REVENGE
Since I wasn't going to exercise, I watched last night's episode of Revenge instead this morning. Last week we saw David Clarke standing over Emily's sleeping form and when he hesitated I thought he recognised her. This made me excited to watch the next one. What would he say to Victoria that she is pitting him against his own daughter?
Needless to say I was disappointed at first when it all seemed to go back on track for Victoria. Then came David's big reveal to the Police, Emily's emotion at seeing her father alive, keeping them apart and then the press conference. You could see where it was going by then. I just hope they don't string it out too much.
I love Revenge because the characters aren't stupid. They don't do things because the story needs to be delayed or stretched out. If things go wrong it is due to forces outside their control.
For Emily, seeing her father isn't difficult and convincing him she is his daughter maybe a struggle, but all it would take is some real details from childhood, particularly with Nolan backing her up. I'm not sure what Jack's up to. If they don't do that in a reasonable amount of time, it's going to ruin it for me.
Speaking of ruining and Taken 3 earlier, for some reason I looked up Empire Magazines review and saw it had two stars, the same as Taken 2 and I could understand that. I enjoyed Taken 2, but it didn't really bring anything new to the table. What shocked me was the Review for Taken. They gave it one star and one of the worst reviews I've ever read. Mostly they complained about how the film makers portrayed Europe as being too dangerous for Americans, with every single person a crook or corrupt. That describes every Thriller and Action film/TV show out there. It's kind of the whole point. A lone hero against the world.
It's the same in 24, Die Hard, the Bourne films, Bond, etc, etc. I do have different tastes to Empire, it's true. Where I see an enjoyable film worth a couple of hours of my time and money, they slate it because the acting’s pour and the story is uninspired. Sometimes I just like to see lots of things blow up.
Anyway rant over and dinner's almost ready - Total now a 42,000 words.
January 26, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
On budget for the fifth day in a row, I'm starting to make this a bit of a habit. I shouldn't get blase about it though, 114,000 and 23 writing days still to go. As you may have guessed today is a great day at 6,000 words. I could have stopped at 5.15pm and gone and played Fallout 3, yes I restarted that over the weekend, but I kept going. I'm glad I did.
I listened to a couple of Writing Excuses podcasts over the weekend. The first included Peter Beagle and was titled Getting Into the Writers Mindset. I was looking forward to this, it seemed an excellent subject for a writer trying to make a living out of it like myself. I've got to say, it was disappointing. He rambled. A lot. I'm sure for a longer, more entertainment based forum he would be a fantastic person to listen to. It didn't really work for Writing Excuses. Brandon Sanderson and Howard Taylor did try and keep it on topic, but Beagle pretty much ignored them. It was a shame.
I did take one thing out of it though. Beagle said that when you write for a living it is a job. You get up and sit at your typewriter in the morning and stay there until the end of the day, no matter if you're stuck or not. I'm guilty of this. I can hit a slight bump that throws me off, I can't think of the right word or the story isn't quite there in my head. I'll walk away and do something else, normally non-work related. Beagle said you should stay there until blood is dripping on the pages and I think I get what he's saying. If you're sitting at a desk in an office or digging holes for a living, you can't walk away because something isn't working for you. You have to stay and fix it. How is that any different from writing? So that's my new plan. I don't move from the keyboard.
Hmm, maybe it wasn't that bad an episode after all. It was a bit frustrating to listen to though. Several times I had to refrain from shouting at the computer for Beagle to get on with it.
The second episode - Hiding the Open Grave was excellent, some of the tips are certainly being used in Revolution. It even gave me a good idea for a fresh angle on an old story.
For motivation I've found little goals with rewards are quite useful. At the moment I've set myself a goal of half an hour exercise and 5,000 words for today and tomorrow. If I meet that, and I have today, then I get to go and see Taken 3 at the cinema. It's silly, but I do feel really good about having reached the halfway point.
Total now at 36,000 words.
I listened to a couple of Writing Excuses podcasts over the weekend. The first included Peter Beagle and was titled Getting Into the Writers Mindset. I was looking forward to this, it seemed an excellent subject for a writer trying to make a living out of it like myself. I've got to say, it was disappointing. He rambled. A lot. I'm sure for a longer, more entertainment based forum he would be a fantastic person to listen to. It didn't really work for Writing Excuses. Brandon Sanderson and Howard Taylor did try and keep it on topic, but Beagle pretty much ignored them. It was a shame.
I did take one thing out of it though. Beagle said that when you write for a living it is a job. You get up and sit at your typewriter in the morning and stay there until the end of the day, no matter if you're stuck or not. I'm guilty of this. I can hit a slight bump that throws me off, I can't think of the right word or the story isn't quite there in my head. I'll walk away and do something else, normally non-work related. Beagle said you should stay there until blood is dripping on the pages and I think I get what he's saying. If you're sitting at a desk in an office or digging holes for a living, you can't walk away because something isn't working for you. You have to stay and fix it. How is that any different from writing? So that's my new plan. I don't move from the keyboard.
Hmm, maybe it wasn't that bad an episode after all. It was a bit frustrating to listen to though. Several times I had to refrain from shouting at the computer for Beagle to get on with it.
The second episode - Hiding the Open Grave was excellent, some of the tips are certainly being used in Revolution. It even gave me a good idea for a fresh angle on an old story.
For motivation I've found little goals with rewards are quite useful. At the moment I've set myself a goal of half an hour exercise and 5,000 words for today and tomorrow. If I meet that, and I have today, then I get to go and see Taken 3 at the cinema. It's silly, but I do feel really good about having reached the halfway point.
Total now at 36,000 words.
January 23, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
That is the first good week of writing complete and man, am I tired. I can tell as I just had to type first five times before it was right! How bad is that?
6,000 words completed today and that is a great day. That puts me a full day ahead of schedule and at 20% for Revolution For Vengeance. Of course I don't know precisely how big it is going to be, but I have a mental number, line in the sand if you will of 150,000 words per book for the first draft. That was much easier for the first two. If I still had more story to tell, I simply put it off to the next one. I can't do that here. I have to make sure I wrap everything up neatly.
I'm not saying this will be end of stories in this universe, only it will complete Valerie's story arc. After all, that's what it is all about.
When I'm in full flow while writing, I don't want to stop in case I lose the momentum. An example of this happened earlier, I had an idea for something to help promote my books. It was right in the middle of a scene that was going onto the page nicely, with the next bits all lined up in my head. Then out of nowhere pops this idea. Previously I've gone off and explored them and when I come back to carry on writing, I've lost it. This time I jotted it down and I'm going to play with it in a minute. Hopefully I haven't lost the thread on that like I do the writing.
I think that is the hardest thing being self-published. You need to balance the product with the marketing perfectly. For instance, you can have the best, most exciting, well written story and edited perfectly, but it no one knows about you're nowhere. It's the same for marketing. Your cover and book description can be spot on with listings on all the right sites and people talking about it, but if your novel is pants you're lost.
As a writer, I want to write or if I have to edit. I want to do something that directly relates to what in my heart I believe to be the most important thing, the story. That of course is wrong, if I don't do the marketing, like writing this blog, I might as well not bother.
On a completely unrelated note, I was looking through my comics yesterday for a particular story which I thought contained something I could use for inspiration in a fight scene. After going through every single box, marking a lot of stuff to read and finding it at the back of the very last one, it didn't have what I thought it did. It had been a while since I last read it. The comic was an issue run called Batman: Family. It's one of the first I picked up when I got back into it full time over ten years ago and I think, still one of the best.
DC created this great enemy called Athena who had seven supporting characters, much like Batman does with Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Huntress, etc. It was a fantastic, colourful, fully realised set of villains and they've never been seen again, despite it being left open for them to return. A big shame, I'd love to see Batman go up against them again.
Anyway, that was a rather long post. Time to go and do that marketing thing I thought of.
Total now at 30,000 words.
6,000 words completed today and that is a great day. That puts me a full day ahead of schedule and at 20% for Revolution For Vengeance. Of course I don't know precisely how big it is going to be, but I have a mental number, line in the sand if you will of 150,000 words per book for the first draft. That was much easier for the first two. If I still had more story to tell, I simply put it off to the next one. I can't do that here. I have to make sure I wrap everything up neatly.
I'm not saying this will be end of stories in this universe, only it will complete Valerie's story arc. After all, that's what it is all about.
When I'm in full flow while writing, I don't want to stop in case I lose the momentum. An example of this happened earlier, I had an idea for something to help promote my books. It was right in the middle of a scene that was going onto the page nicely, with the next bits all lined up in my head. Then out of nowhere pops this idea. Previously I've gone off and explored them and when I come back to carry on writing, I've lost it. This time I jotted it down and I'm going to play with it in a minute. Hopefully I haven't lost the thread on that like I do the writing.
I think that is the hardest thing being self-published. You need to balance the product with the marketing perfectly. For instance, you can have the best, most exciting, well written story and edited perfectly, but it no one knows about you're nowhere. It's the same for marketing. Your cover and book description can be spot on with listings on all the right sites and people talking about it, but if your novel is pants you're lost.
As a writer, I want to write or if I have to edit. I want to do something that directly relates to what in my heart I believe to be the most important thing, the story. That of course is wrong, if I don't do the marketing, like writing this blog, I might as well not bother.
On a completely unrelated note, I was looking through my comics yesterday for a particular story which I thought contained something I could use for inspiration in a fight scene. After going through every single box, marking a lot of stuff to read and finding it at the back of the very last one, it didn't have what I thought it did. It had been a while since I last read it. The comic was an issue run called Batman: Family. It's one of the first I picked up when I got back into it full time over ten years ago and I think, still one of the best.
DC created this great enemy called Athena who had seven supporting characters, much like Batman does with Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Huntress, etc. It was a fantastic, colourful, fully realised set of villains and they've never been seen again, despite it being left open for them to return. A big shame, I'd love to see Batman go up against them again.
Anyway, that was a rather long post. Time to go and do that marketing thing I thought of.
Total now at 30,000 words.
Revolution For Vengeance
It was an OK day yesterday with 4,500 words written. That was a shame as I really wanted to get to 25,000 words and get a full day ahead of schedule. In that vein I've started early today with a solid target of 6,000 words. I think that's achievable. While cooking dinner last night I had an eureka moment and came up with a great idea for the next chapter. My whiteboard is full of notes.
Well it was a great idea last night, I think it's a good one but the initial passion and ardour for it has dampened in the cold light of a new day. And it certainly is a cold light, there is heavy frost on the ground. I'm glad I don't have to go out, the car looks like it'll need a some work defrosting.
Total now stands at 24,000 words and I'd better get on with this writing malarkey.
Well it was a great idea last night, I think it's a good one but the initial passion and ardour for it has dampened in the cold light of a new day. And it certainly is a cold light, there is heavy frost on the ground. I'm glad I don't have to go out, the car looks like it'll need a some work defrosting.
Total now stands at 24,000 words and I'd better get on with this writing malarkey.
January 21, 2015
Revolution For Vengeance
A good day today, a solid 5,000 words written. I'm happy with that. I could have continued and done more, but it's Karate day so I'm off in a minute to that.
Two of the words I struggled with today were pursuers (found under chase) and skewers (I thought it started with squ so thank you Google, it came up after I typed Kebab s).
My biggest challenge when writing is the hook at the start of a scene/chapter that sets it all rolling. I worked on two scenes today. The first I started yesterday and that was easy to continue and finish. The second was a completely new start. I knew roughly what was going to happen, but not quite how certain pieces fitted together. It took me about two hours to get that straight in my head.
Of course it wasn't helped when I realised I had five groups of people on four different worlds and I had to check when they arrived. That took quite a bit of working out distances, speeds and timings. Fortunately I was just about spot on with my initial finger in the air guess. I only had to switch two chapters round and they were unrelated so it didn't make any difference. Of course I didn't have to do that. There is no map included in the book and don't I list out all the timings, but know that I do have a map and all the distances have been worked out.
I wrote something completely new today, a car chase scene. I'm quietly positive about the result. Hopefully I'll feel the same way when I do the read through in the morning.
Total now at 19,500 words. Making progress and I know what I'm writing tomorrow so fingers crossed I'll be able to more of the same.
Two of the words I struggled with today were pursuers (found under chase) and skewers (I thought it started with squ so thank you Google, it came up after I typed Kebab s).
My biggest challenge when writing is the hook at the start of a scene/chapter that sets it all rolling. I worked on two scenes today. The first I started yesterday and that was easy to continue and finish. The second was a completely new start. I knew roughly what was going to happen, but not quite how certain pieces fitted together. It took me about two hours to get that straight in my head.
Of course it wasn't helped when I realised I had five groups of people on four different worlds and I had to check when they arrived. That took quite a bit of working out distances, speeds and timings. Fortunately I was just about spot on with my initial finger in the air guess. I only had to switch two chapters round and they were unrelated so it didn't make any difference. Of course I didn't have to do that. There is no map included in the book and don't I list out all the timings, but know that I do have a map and all the distances have been worked out.
I wrote something completely new today, a car chase scene. I'm quietly positive about the result. Hopefully I'll feel the same way when I do the read through in the morning.
Total now at 19,500 words. Making progress and I know what I'm writing tomorrow so fingers crossed I'll be able to more of the same.
