I've written!

:D Yes, I'm aware of how many posts I'm putting up lately. But who says I can only put one up a day?

I'm happy cos with 1507 words, I've finished chapter 7 of Imperial Intrigue! Whoohoo! We ignore the fact that I feel this scene is far too slow. On with the next one! It feels so good to be writing agian, and making progress. Even if I'm tired and only manage a few lines, I want to write every day.

Chasing the dream

The idea of this blog post comes from a paragraph in a friend's wip, where one character is questioned about whether they are chasing their dream. It struck me in the heart. I bluntly replied 'no, I haven't been'.

I haven't been chasing my dream lately. Yes, I've been busy in life. But, I've also been a little lazy to some extent. I've been focusing on others' work. This is important - creating links and forging bonds with fellow writers really helps when the time comes for critiquing of a novel. But, sometimes the focus comes away from the dream.

I'm hoping the dream here is obvious! To get to the stage where I feel my work is acceptable for submitting to agents.

By acceptable, I mean as polished as I can possibly get it with the help of critiques. To the best writing I can achieve without help from an agent and editor.

I'm hoping that this can be November/December this year for Termion. Which means I've got a lot of work ahead. I plan on finishing Imperial Intrigue (draft 1), then revising Termion. I'm on chapter 5 now. I average around 30-35 chapters per novel at the moment, so just another 30 odd to go! I can do this, and I must write every day. I can write 1 chapter a day....its very doable in first draft stage, so that's what I'm aiming for. At the least, I'll be writing 500 words a day (see earlier post).

So, are you chasing the dream?

New writing goal of the month/week/day

My aim = 500 words minimum, no matter what's happening. That is the plan!

Hopefully I can succeed and write a lot more. It all depends on many factors which aren't listed here. Real Life being the main one.

News - I'm on chapter 5 of Imperial Intrigue. Plot twists are working their way in without warning. Quite entertaining, only at some point I'll have to wind them all up.

Sorry for such a short post - life's been manic lately, and I'm off for a few hours R&R.

51st post!

:D Nice number of posts has been reached!

News - yes I know I've been quite but life has been busy.

For now I've chucked out the writing then editing approach for each chapter, and I'm back to my 'write anything' mode.

Muse is yabbering away at me night and day. I've finished chapter 4 of Imperial Intrigue (yay), should get chapter 5 written today.

In the spirit of trying to write more (and find more time in the day) this weekend I'm not really online much. To enforce this, I'm only taking my mini-laptop with me as I head off to catsit for the week. It doesn't have the internet on it where I catsit :) Good incentive to keep writing! Especially since I'll be without my consoles (well, there is one, but I've only got 1 game I like on it). I'm trying to squeeze more time into my day! The attempt is...interesting.

I'm sure my fellow bloggers have discussed this already, but what do you do to create more time in your day?

Do you know what you're writing?

No, I haven't lost the plot. Do you honestly know what you're writing?

For Imperial Intrigue, (and also Misty Chaos), since they have been written once or twice already, I'm writing the revision in a new way.

Write a chapter, thinking about what I write. Then go back and edit.

Now, my editing is this. Reading the paragraph to see if its how I roughly want it to be. Then I'm actually checking the meaning behind the words I'm using, with a humungous dictionary and thesaurus (2 separate entities, Oxford type). Turns out what I think a word means, isn't necessarily its exact meaning. So I head off to the thesaurus, check out similar words, cross reference their meaning....and I come up with a sentence which i'm happy with.

It's slow, and I think it'll speed up as I get used to using words properly. It's not something I can do with true first drafts. It would really muck up my muse.

I'm back writing!

:D Still not completely over my lurgy, but am well enough to write. So I've written!

Finished chapter 2 of Imperial Intrigue. Going to go over chapter 1 (or try to), with the aim to edit and put it on CC in the next 2 days. Exciting events are brewing in the Empire!

POV's and different voices.

Despite being ill, I am managing to write. And today I'm discussing povs and voices. In this post, they are linked together. Apologies if my grammar is worse than normal - I have germs in me!

In writing Imperial Intrigue, I'm using different povs. This is my normal style of writing. It was before Termion, which is just through 1pov. I enjoyed just 1 pov because I didn't have to worry about making characters sound different.

On the previous version of II, the voices weren't right, for a variety of reasons I won't list here.

This time, I'm worried that they sound too different. To me, they are different styles of writing. It's like writing 3 separate books.

Hallie - she's the character I have most fun with with, whatever version I'm writing. I guess because she's the FMC, and does cool things. I'm happy with the voice I've got for her.

Elita - she's full of hate in this version. She doesn't find joy in much. And the way I write her parts, well it scared me because its so different.

IMPSOL - the soldier whose name I can't remember, well her voice is different too. I'm worried I'm doing too much telling with her, but she is an observant character.

For now, I'm having to put my worries aside and just write. I'll see how the first preliminary critiquers react to it, before I make decisions to change the povs.

Do your povs have different writing styles? Do you find it easy to slip in and out of them (I do).

Breakthrough (or very bad idea) with Imperial Intrigue!

Gaming has many advantages. Including letting the muse have fun.

While playing away on Last Remnant, my muses had a breakthrough with Imperial Intrigue.

Background: I had previously been toying with having II set in same world as Termion.

The breakthrough is that it will be.

Here, Termions will take a backseat role. They will be the Emperor's personal bodyguards. At the moment, few people will know their true nature. It explains why no-one ever succeeds in assassinating the Emperor any more. Or why the Emperor doesn't see his nominated air as a threat.

As before, there will be a rogue group (possibly). Only they can't be subdued by force. No. Hallie will have to use the very drug she's in exile for against the Termion. And it'll work :) They'll be placid.

Just working out a few other major details, but this does explain why Imperial Intrigue didn't work when I first wrote it. Termion didn't exist back then.

If it doesn't work out, I can go back to my original idea (no Termion), but in the day where people like multi-book series, its worth a shot.

Have you ever written anything, (draft or not), shelved it, and come back to it only when you've gained elements from another story (or just a completely different viewpoint on it all?)

II is back to 5....

Yes. 5 povs! *cries* I brainstormed with a fellow critter and came up with 5!

Main one Hallie
2nd Main = Xeryas
3rd = Henri
4th = Henri's fiancee
5th = Evil Emperor.

Cries even more because I'm keeping males in. Hate male povs!

Determined to write some of Imperial Intrigue tonight. Dishes...pudding...then writing !

What's the most POV's you've had in a wip?

Imperial Intrigue plot fixed!

2.3k later....I have a rough plot for II. The revised version. I've got most of it down - the last part of the wip is hazy, but my muse doesn't like putting the dots down on paper.

Lei was sweet and checked it over for me, making great suggestions, so now I can start it. Got a small stack of Japanese homework to do today, then I can write. Will let you know how my new process of writing goes.

I'm excited about II, not just because its a new revision, but because of the new content. Although some of the ideas are new, I don't have to worry too much about learning what the characters are like, because I got acquainted in the last version. Thankfully the Emperor does come across as evil in the plot outline, so I should be able to make him evil in the chapters. I was debating having the FMC's younger brother be the 2nd POV (yes, big cut down from 5 POVs....), but a new, Imperial character announced herself to me. Xeryas isn't someone you say no to.

Imperial Intrigue revisions commence!

Well, probably not until tomorrow. I'm in the middle of writing out what I'd like to happen in the plot. Lei's going to check it out for me after her nap :) As soon as I'm done posting, I'll carry on with chapter 1 of Acquistioners.

I'm going to attempt to write a rough draft of the chapter, revise and edit, then post. Not just spelling, but really push myself with the writing. That way I can post for credits, and hopefully go through less edits. If it doesn't pan out - it doesn't pan out. But I know Michelle uses a similar method :) (correct me if I'm wrong on that). I'm willing to give it a go once.

Last night I didn't write on the story...just wrote 2k on characters, how the story starts, vaguely where its heading. I can't call it plotting or my muse will cross her arms and kick me in the shoulders. I tried to carry on today by elaborating more on Elementals, pirates, etc...but she was having none of it.

Guess I'd better get on with the plotting/not plotting.