Holly Lisle's Blog, page 7

Good OHIO 3 words, a new neighbor, a weird twist… and DANGER — 1233 words, 34,447 total

I cannot believe how fast this scene came together — and this wasn’t even anything I pulled out of the first draft.

This was all new, all scary, and creepy in a way that I didn’t manage in the first run through this book. I didn’t see it coming… but I cannot wait to get back in and do more of this tomorrow.

Today, however, I still have plenty of time to work on the SECRET NONFICTION PROJECT. So I’m going to wrap up the outlining on that, and then start putting some of the pieces together.

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Not as good as I’d hoped… 363 keepers… and now done with the first third of the book

I hit words from the earlier version today… and did not delete them, because I didn’t want to come out heavily in the negative numbers.

The EXPOSITORY LUMP I discovered is marked, and all those words will go, but not today. I’ll cut them once I hit the end of the book.

I did pull out some before I got to the end of the days work, though, so I’m only showing 363 for the day.

However, my MC is now heading into terrible peril, stepping into darkness knowing as she does that there’s stuff in there that’s hungry and waiting, and that her chance of saving what she hopes to save is almost nonexistent.

(I’m going to have a lot of fun writing tomorrow).

Another fine writing day being mean to my characters

I’m now more than a third of the way through the draft, and I’m right on target with both the word count and the story.

The line-for-scene outline holds. The plot is tight, the action is tense, and I had a hard time stopping, because while I know GENERALLY what happens next, I won’t know the specifics until I actually write them.

Now, however, if I haul ass, I can now get in an hour on my secret SECOND project before I have to go do the other stuff on the day’s list.

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Hah!!! MONDAY obeys!

I got the words on the novel — 992 for the day, to be exact, and 32,021 total on Ohio 3, and I was cruel to my characters, and twisty with that’s happening just out of sight… so GOOD writing day.

But I also got a bunch of words on something for writers that I’m building. Nothing more on that just yet. But between the fiction AND the nonfiction, it was a very fine day.

Today was a plotting day…

I got 391 new words, but I also had to figure out the logistics of the problem into which I’ve thrown my hero — and she’s really, really unhappy with me now.

I’m pretty damn happy with myself now. Today was a Mean Girl day, in which, for the good of the story, I did bad things to my MC.

And they’re going to get a whole lot worse before they have any hope at all of getting better.

But… WHEEEE! I’m going to be coming back Monday to a really fun writing week.

I’ll see you then!

It’s been a good writing week… but today was EPIC — 4220 words, and a major plot twist

When your fingers are moving so fast you can’t quite keep up with them, because you cannot wait to see what’s going to happen next, that could be described as a GREAT writing day.

That was today. And holy crap, I love what I got.

I was MEAN today.

Bad things happened to a character I love — and I don’t know EXACTLY what’s happened to her yet, but I’m hoping I’ll get to find out at least some of it tomorrow.

This was not pantsing, by the way. This was part of my carefully built line-for-scene outline, because (yes, OH, YES) I did learn very well not to pants novels after the epic fail I had when I tried it last time.

Today’s line-for-scene Sentence just took me to a much, much bigger and meaner version of the scene I’d planned, with higher stakes than I’d ever considered.

When you have to drag yourself away from work because you still have other work to do, and when you already can’t wait to roll your ass out of bed at O-dark-hundred tomorrow because that’s when you get to do it again?

That’s a good day.

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OHIO 3-More of the giddy WHEE… on target, with good words, NICE twist

I love what I got today. I did mean things to characters I love, and one of them is in SUCH big trouble. I know the broad issue, but have no clue what the details are… but I’ll get to investigate the details tomorrow.

But now, on to chores, and Real Life(TM)!

A RIDICULOUSLY good Friday — 3927 words, 24,247 total — and wicked joy

After my main character got to experience the deep joy of finding a true friend yesterday (my time, not hers)… she is now facing the potential of horrible loss.

So I’m sitting here after getting a good run of words that led to a cliffhanger, a I’m a bit teary-eyed over what’s just happened (YES, I do in fact sometimes make myself cry when I’m writing) and all of a sudden, I discover that I understand exactly how a couple of weird events I wrote in over the past few days in the story connect…

And from the connection of those events, discover something I did not know about this TOWN she lives in… (a truly thrilling moment from the point of view of a worldbuilder… and I think it will be cool for readers, too…)

And from that discovery about the town, I got both the truth behind the next obstacle my hero faces, and what she’s going to have to get through to overcome it.

I got to be so wickedly mean to all my characters this morning… but it’s going to come out all right. Not soon. But eventually.

So now I’m going to work for a couple hours on this surprise thing I’m putting together for my writers. And then… FRIDAY!!!

Hope you have a great weekend.

The words FLEW, I tell you. They FLEW!

It’s not even 9 AM, and I already finished my words for the day (and even ran over a bit).

My objective was 1000 words, and I got my scene, and 1,173 brand new words.

Better yet, they fit the line-for-scene outline, they move the story forward — and they are angry. These are words that NEEDED to be angry…

Because something terrible has happened, and my main character is helpless to undo it, and the people she is supposed to be able to count on to help her have just essentially held up their hands and said, “Nope, we can’t touch this — it’s to dangerous for us”…

So tomorrow… Tomorrow she is going to have to come up with a way to get help, or watch the current crime that’s been committed turn into one a helluva lot worse.

And she’s going to have to watch herself lose the one thing she’s yearned for and prayed for and begged for… and that she didn’t have until just YESTERDAY, her time.

She’s just discovered how cruel the universe can be.

Now she’s going to have to figure out how to grab it by the tenders and make it do what she wants.

BUT THAT is for tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.

< INSERT TRULY EVIL GRIN HERE >

The Twist REALLY Twisted Today — 1146 words, and 19,149 total

Still working off my Line-for-Scene outline. There’s a lot of room in that sucker for surprises… and today I got one handed to me.

The hammer dropped on character who is massively important to the book and series, and I’m now sitting here, staring, going through my outline and thinking, yeah, that fits, it fits, I can still use the outline, but HOLY SHIT does this raise the stakes.

I had to make myself stop writing so I could go work on the surprise thing, and the other stuff I’m working on. God, I love my Ohio world, and the people in it.

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