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Tim Arnot - Flick Carter #1: FREED!
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D.D. Chant
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Nov 07, 2012 01:01PM
Well done Tim!!!
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92,000 words, and the first draft is done!Yay!
Off to rehearsals now, but there will be a glass of something waiting when I get back... :)
That's a great achievement Tim. I assume it's put aside now while you complete NaNoWriMo?
Ignite wrote: "That's a great achievement Tim. I assume it's put aside now while you complete NaNoWriMo?"Yes, I'm not going to touch it again before December. You're welcome to have a read of it if you want - I'd value some feedback, particularly from a female perspective (since the protagonist is female) on what works, what doesn't etc.
I'm proofing a book at the moment and I've promised to proof read another straight after that - but if you don't mind a week or so, I'll fit you in. ;) I'd love to read it.
Thanks Kath, Let.Me know what format you prefer it in - i can export to almost anything. Like I said, I'm not touching it again until December :) although I'll be reading the scene that Andy provided technical advice for at Writers Group next week.Anyone else wants a read, net me know, I'm only after generalised feedback at this stage - x works, y doesn't, z's dialogue in this scene is unconvincing , liked this, hated that etc, not grammar, punctuation etc.
Just spent a fortune on half a thimbleful of ink and a couple of reams of paper! :(
You mad, impetuous fool, you!PMd you regarding a read-through.
Flippin-ummer-eck that was quick Tim. Well, it felt quick from where I'm sitting.A hearty congratulations to you!
Quick?? Five and a half bleedin' months it took to wring that out!!! (okay, so I did write the last half in just five weeks - I decided I needed to get a move on, lol)I'm hoping the edits and rewrites won't take that long!!!
Hmmm. I keep referring to the characters in my NaNoWriMo project as Adam and Flick (brother and sister characters in Hunted). Something definitely wrong there...!
You've still got your Hunted head on Tim!
Ben had always wanted to go into space, ever since he was little. Then on his twentieth birthday he gets the letter he's always dreamed of: "Congratulations! Your application has been accepted. Report to the Bright Star Line crew desk on BritSat Station for your crew assignment aboard the starliner Queen Elizabeth IX" He was going into space!... as a janitor. Well, even spaceships need cleaning!
Still it was space, and, well, space. Yeah. But mere days into the first voyage, the QE9 was struck by an asteroid, instantly killing half the crew and mega rich passengers. And that's a mess that Ben will find really tough to clean up...
Just practising my WriMo blurb... ;)
Have you done your Hunted blurb yet? I'm half a book away from reading it - Tues probably.
This is a blurb I wrote early on (copied from my blog). It's out of date in terms of some of the detail, but it gives you a feel for at least what I intended... ;)23rd Century Britain is tough. There's few people, no oil and no electricity (by order). Kingsmen rule the country with a rod of iron, and exact the severest of penalties for the smallest of crimes. When sixteen year old Flick Carter comes across an injured pilot from an illegal aircraft that has crashed, fixing him up is her first crime, and falling in love is her second. In a small town of just 150 people, it's hard to hide for long, and when the Kingsmen find out her secret, the choice is simple: Love, or life.
Oooh, I do love a bit of post-apocalysm.
Ooo!!!I like the sound of both, Tim!!!
Post apocalysm... is that where you lie back and have a fag after blowing everything up?
I don't smoke - but otherwise it sounds about right! ;)
Bloody nora again Tim, sounds phenomenal! Can I pre-order my copy?
Aww thanks Andy, comments like that help me keep going. :)But it has a way to go yet if it's to meet expectations...
I read out chapter 11 in Writers Group tonight (it was chapter 10 when you read it, Andy - bloomin' renumbering bunny been at it again!), which was interesting. This is probably one of the most polished scenes so far, technically and writingly, having already gone through several revisions. But it's funny how the very act of reading it out aloud *to other people* instantly makes you spot a whole load more errors.And of course the others in the group spotted a whole bunch of things too, some of which I was vaguely conscious of (must learn better to listen to those voices in my head...) and some I hadn't thought about. We discussed a different way of ending the scene too, which (a) takes away a nagging doubt, and (b) adds even more tension.
Just 26 other chapters to fix...
Just got an email saying Space Janitors has launched on Geek & Sundry. So much for my Nano story being original. Sigh.http://www.spacejanitors.com
In geology, when you find two types of fossil (I don't meean YOU dear) which look very similar but are totally unrelated, it's called Convergent Evolution.There are only 6 stories. It's the way you tell 'em. ;)
I'll sit down and watch it when I get a spare minute (ha ha ha, me get a spare minute, that'll be the day! Even work needs to book an appointment!) But I suspect it derives more from Red Dwarf than "serious" sci-fi, going from the photos.
Tim wrote: "I read out chapter 11 in Writers Group tonight (it was chapter 10 when you read it, Andy - bloomin' renumbering bunny been at it again!), which was interesting. This is probably one of the most pol..."It's always the way, Tim!!!
I'm working on a short story and every time I ask someone to read it they find something I should alter!!! >.<
I'm sure 'Kingsmen' will be brilliant, I can't wait to buy it!!!
Oh, I should say that one of the other writers at the group last night has had her submission to the Radio 4 Opening Lines compo get through to the second stage. (yay!) :)
Tim wrote: "Oh, I should say that one of the other writers at the group last night has had her submission to the Radio 4 Opening Lines compo get through to the second stage. (yay!) :)"Yay!!! I hope it goes well for her!
I've just sent my Submission to Ignite and begged her to give me her opinion. Now I'm trying NOT to gnaw on my finger nails!!!
Have you decided whether to give it a go or not??? I know you're doing Nano, so I guess it's a bit difficult finding time!!! I chickened out of Nano this year... but maybe next year...
Maybe if I think of something to write for it, but it won't be till December, so it'll be tight.
Tim wrote: "Duck and cover..."No need for that - you're good, kid!
DD - been out since I downloaded your story but I'm on it now. I'm out this evening too so if you don't hear soon I'm not in a strop or anything!
Browsing around the Interweb -- as you do, particularly when avoiding work -- I came across some details of the filming of Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games (currently filming in Hawaii & scheduled to wrap in December). It's directed by Francis Lawrence, previously responsible for the Will Smith move, I am Legend, and last year's rather good Water for Elephants.Anyhow that got me thinking about movie and book titles... after all, elephants aren't the only things that need water. So I'm going to start planning next year's WriMo early, cos lack of planning I think has been my bigest hurdle this year. Anyhow I have a title...
(hot) Water for Ants.
It's a horror story...
... if you're an ant!
Visions of Jeff Goldblum as The Fly are now chasing themselves through what passes for my brain!
Just written the opening to Hunting. Yeah I know I haven't started editing Hunted yet, but the opening came to me in the bath and I just had to get it written before I forgot it!I already want to read it!!!
That's the best sign yet! If you don't want to, readers won't.
I've pm'd you the first para. I think the opening line is a corker!
So do I :) Yep. I want to read it!
*fingers tapping impatiently on the desk*
Yer in the queue, young Andrew!
Just to fuel Andrew's frustration, here's that opening paragraph from Hunting:‘You shot his son? How fucking stupid could you possibly get? You might have just started world war six, or eight, or whatever the hell number they are up to!’ Raymond the First, King of New Britain was, Jessica reflected, as angry as she had ever seen him. And she’d seen him angry.
I blew my one f-bomb for a PG-13 in the opening line, but I do rather like it. And this is the opening paragraph from Hunted:
Shea threw himself to the ground and lay there, scared out of his wits. The damp, earthy smell of the forest floor was strong in his nostrils. Green shoots were starting to push their way up through the wet leaves that covered the ground. Something had spooked him, and now he risked a glance up. An arrow was buried in the tree, just inches from where he’d been, the shaft still quivering.
All subject to change of course ;)
Not too much, I hope? :)
That's brilliant, Tim. Particularly impressed by the first para :)And as far as the renumbering bunny goes, chapter one of TTR ended up being chapter four or five. I get to the end and then cram in more at the beginning!
Well, WriMo is done: 50,221 words. I would like to say they are the finest prose, but In All honesty they are not. But there's the potential for a story in there, and I think, with a whole load of re-planning and outlining, something could see the light of day in due course.Anyhow, I loved the 30 minute write-offs - I thought that was a great way to get words flying off the keyboard.
So, to or row I'm taking a rest from the writing, and then I start revising Hunted at the weekend.
Now, the important question: do I buy the NaNoWriMo winners t-shirt?
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