Holly Lisle's Blog, page 32

Making Money (the title of a Pratchett novel, AND what my MC did today)

Word counts first: 1380 words, 75,861 total.

Today had a bit of research tied in, so while I’ve been writing since 7:30 am, I didn’t hit my word count until about four hours in.

But the writing went well. I had to research the earliest processes of making coins by hand, and then had to put my main character into a situation where she had to try coin-making the old-fashioned way. She’s not having fun — but that’s okay. I am.

I like the words I got, and I left myself in a good place to start again tomorrow. (Driving your main character nuts, then leaving her right in the middle of her mess is almost always a good place to quit. You’ve already established the work and the mood of the scene, and your MC going to spend the night glowering.)

So now, on to the rest of the day’s work.

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Today’s words funded by my Ko-Fi supporters.

All supporters are thanked by name (withheld by request) in each book’s acknowledgements.

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Not feeling well today — came in a bit short, but calling it a day. 896 words, 74,481 total.

And I’m pretty much going to leave the post at that.

My objective total for the week was: 6250 words.

My total word count for the week has been: 6,997 words.

So in spite of one pretty bad writing day, I still came out a bit ahead.

 

What’s in a legacy? 1264 words, and 73,586 total for Novel #3

My MC today discovered the details of the legacy her grandmother left her — things that she should have known months earlier, when she first returned home.

With the full extent of her inheritance revealed to her, she’s also discovered that there were things she did wrong when she first returned home, and one critical mistake she made back then that is almost certainly going to come back to bite her in the butt.

She knows that in one instance, she has trusted exactly the wrong person. She just doesn’t know which person.

I got good words today, though they did not come quickly or easily today.

And I got to research a bit on the 1919 Volstead Act, and American Prohibition, and speakeasy bars.

I thoroughly enjoyed today’s writing.

But now… onward.

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What’s in Grandma’s attic? — 1286 words, and 72,321 total

I had kind of a hard start this morning — was up way too late last night, and didn’t sleep well once I got to bed, and then woke up at pretty much my regular time (just after 7 am instead of 6:30-sh). So I would have expected to be off my game.

But I’d left myself at a good place yesterday, and picking up from that scene today went pretty well. I wrote slower than usual — seriously, I could use a nap right now. But I had a lot of fun as soon as I opened up the document and started reading through yesterday’s work and doing tiny tweaks. (And fixing typos.)

By the time I started writing new words, I was rolling, and I discovered some things about my MC’s grandmother’s attic that are very cool. And really weird.

And that tie her back to her great-grandfather, or maybe her great-great grandfather, one of whom was a smith — and who was making a lot more than horseshoes.

Fun scene, fair amount of research on cast iron and ancient coins, and still hit my words.

Basements, attics, and the Shudder Factor – 1740 words, 71035 total

Ohio Novel Three has shifted strongly away from my updated line-for-scene outline (as they have all done in this series), but again, what I got today still managed to build on the overall five-book plan. It’s the usual issue of strategy versus tactics — the overall book strategy holds, but on the ground, the tactics have to be changeable as old scene concept get shoved aside as what I build creates better conflicts than what I was able to imagine before I built them.

So while managing tactics today, I managed to make things scarier, and creepier, and — for me — a lot more exciting to write and a lot more fun as I get to watch the story happening.

Yesterday there was a big, big surprise in a basement. I loved this bit.

Today, a portentous discovery in an attic. (This bit creeped me out.)

And tomorrow — a whiff of the traitor who is probably also a murderer.

The combat accountant debuts peacefully… 1811 words, and 69,295 total

…and he introduces a weird and complicated good-news/bad-news problem for my MC.

I’ve been looking forward to writing this scene. And writing it turned out to be as much fun as I’d hoped it would be. I got to play a bit with Earth geology, and the problems of high finance and non-liquid assets (though I guess her new assets could be made liquid if it got hot enough)…

Anyway, today was a fun writing day that left me with a spiffy little twist I get to pick up on tomorrow… and now that I have my words, I still have a bunch of time left in which to catch up with all the non-writing work that builds up over the weekend.

So… ONWARD!

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The combat accountant arrives. The hero wanders, lost. And a monster speaks. 1333 words today, 67,484 total.

I’m now reworking every damn plot sentence, writing new ones before I get my words each day. 

The series is gathering its own momentum, stripping off bits of “pretty” and “fancy” that I though would have a place, and getting sharper and edgier as I go.

Lots of magic — but that is cleaner, simpler, and more straightforward that what I’d imagined and initially built.

The villains are gaining power.

The heroes are feeling overwhelmed.

And while the series isn’t unfolding exactly as I’d planned, when the villains are gaining power in the middle book, and the heroes are feeling overwhelmed, things are in fact going the way they need to.

And today, my MC finally visits her accountant. She’ll meet him on Monday — today she just made it past the secretary.

Monday, I think, is gonna be a LOT of fun.

* * *

A bit of extra for readers who like sneak peeks

I’ve argued with myself about including this in the blog:  It’s a bit of worldbuilding that I did that probably won’t end up in the book. As written, anyway.

I was working out the details of an important secondary character. The character is already there. Has been in the story all along, but invisible. Makes an appearance in Book Two, but not physically. It’s… complicated.

But I was trying to understand this character, and because the paper was handy and I knew I wouldn’t lose it, I started worldbuilding in my daily dot journal, and right in the middle of explaining what I needed to in upcoming scenes, the secondary character’s voice showed up.

As follows:

Stand you then on this fair ground and call forth hell?
You do not know hell as I do. I am its beast,
And it has burned my flesh and ground my bones —
Devoured me, left nothing back but rage.

I know you, bitch — you pup of coward curs!
I’ve seen that face across a thousand years
And heard time and again your snivelling welp
With tail tucked ‘tween your legs…
And now I’m here.

I know your shabby soul, and I have come at last
To eat you whole, and cleanse us of your reek.

This is raw first draft, it doesn’t rhyme, and when I look at it, it’s simply a weird mood piece… and as I said, it probably won’t be in the book. At least not as poetry — and why the damn monster spoke to me in iambic pentameter I cannot even begin to guess. My mind runs in iambic pentameter on occasion, but again…. I don’t know why.

Anyway, I’ve already written this character into the story back in book two, I think — where I met it in terrible and terrifying circumstances.

And now it’s pushing to come back.

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Winging it: 1259 words, and chasing into the darkness.

I loved today. 

The story has moved away from my plans, so I am outlining each new scene before I write it, still with the same landing place at the ending as my objective.

The story and series structure will remain the same, but the events taking place inside of Book 3 are getting some significant upgrades.

For example, today’s bit of the adventure had a (unplanned) hint of Picts versus Romans on the ground that would someday hold Hadrian’s wall… and (planned) cookies in a warm Ohio kitchen with a handful of friends trying to make sense of what was happening.

I’m writing blindfolded… but I’m doing it while hanging onto a nice, sturdy rope. And I love the story that I’m getting by hanging onto that rope and pushing into the darkness.

A fine and dangerous day: 1358 words, 64,813 total

The scene rose up around me and pulled me down into it today — it started with my main character doing her job in the present while worrying about the things going on around her that are life-or-death, and that she cannot control, or help with, or make better in any way — and from her frustration and helplessness, it ended with a clear memory of an ancient battle on a hill, with naked men tattooed blue who charged down a hill, led by a woman on a horse. They drove into hell at a dead run to take on the greatest army the world had ever known. 

The scene (and the scene within the scene) flew, and I flew with it. 

Hit my goal with a bit extra, and like what I got. 

Whether I still do when I get to the revision remains, as always, to be seen.

But today was a good writing day.

Summer of Fiction Writing, Work Day 2.

 

Great Ohio words (1264) and Summer of Writing Fiction 2021 goes live today! SOFW DAY 1

Last week, the story hit some pretty rocky shoals, and I had to do a lot of backing and filling.

Today… none of that. The backing and filling left me in a really good spot, and I found my characters and the conflict today the second I sat down, did a scene that started in a direct and practical fashion, and then had the joy of watching it gain momentum on me, at the end turning into something sort of poetical and beautiful.

And because my older son was trying to stay awake while driving home, I read him what I’d written, and he loved the parts of it that had gone poetical. (No actual poetry — just a nice metaphor spun out in a conversation between two women about hope, and the future, and the people you might someday meet.)

1280 words for the day, 63,455 words in Book Three, and…

Day One of Summer of Fiction Writing 2021

For writers, the SOFW 2021 event starts at HollysWritingClasses.com today. It’s a free event and free membership), and if you write fiction (or would like to), you’re invited. Full details are available at the site linked in the header above and in the first line.

I’m already playing, as are a lot of other folks — a lot of other writers are also joining in. And I’ll just state here that the event will fit itself around any writing you’re already doing — you don’t have to start a new project, or write a whole novel over the three months, or fit a schedule set by anyone else. 

My objectives, just to give you an idea, are to write five days per week, hit 1250 words per day, and come out the other end with about 75,000 words of first draft (which will have me finishing up Book 3 and starting Book 4).

In other words, doing exactly what I was already doing, but posting progress, encouraging other players, and answering questions other writers might have during the event.

I’ve provided a ton of free resources (and a bunch of paid ones if you already know you want to write fiction for a living and want to use the summer to get serious about that).

But mostly, this is a bunch of writers encouraging each other, hitting their goals, and then hanging out and talking shop, and having a really good time. I hope you’ll come hang out, too.