Frustrated

There’s an icon out there that shows a cartoon figure sitting at a computer typing until their fingers turn bloody and then they start banging their head on the keyboard until there’s nothing left but a stub. That’s how I feel, except without the typing, just banging my head on the keyboard.

I’ve added about 10,000 words to DIF in the last three days, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s just not working.

So, rather than tossing the whole thing into the chiminea (which would mean printing it out first and wasting a lot of paper), I’ve decided to set it aside for a couple of days. Maybe I’ll print it out on the weekend to have a look at it - things always look different in print.

I guess the thing that bugs me most about this is that I’m not having this kind of problem with Changeling. I’ve been moving along at a slow, steady pace, and I really like what I’ve written so far. That’s not to say it’s not going to need some heavy editing, but I’m creating a good base to work from.

Magic is kind of all over the place right now. I’m thinking it needs something near the beginning that’ll make a reader want to keep going to find out what happens next. There was a short scene near the end that explains a few things and I may move it up closer to the start. It’s a stand alone scene, so it should work just as well at the beginning as the end. Hmmm, or maybe expand the scene and then spread it out, like use little snippets for the start of each chapter. That could work too . . .

Irresistable

Okay, I just couldn't resist this. I posted a quiz on my other blog and then I went back to the site of origin to try out some of their other quizzes and stumbled across this one.

What Kind of Writer Are You?

You Should Be a Romance Novelist

You see the world as it should be, and this goes double for all matters of the heart. You can find the romance in any situation, and you would make a talented romance story writer... And while you may be a traditional romantic, you're just as likely to be drawn to quirky or dark love stories. As long as it deals with infatuation, heartbreak, and soulmates - you could write it.

What Type of
Writer Should You Be?

Bleeding Eyes

I’m really starting to hate Driving Into Forever.

Okay, not really. The way the story starts out, there’s a lot of information that needs to be shared and I’m trying to spread it out to avoid an info dump. The problem is, it’s like the information is shards of lead and I’m a big magnet. It all wants to gather in the one spot.

Yesterday I worked on the same section (where my FMC learns where she is and what’s happened to her) until I felt like my eyes were bleeding. I kept changing my mind about what she was told and who was telling her and what she was shown and who was showing her.

All I can say is, thank God for cut and paste. I think I’ve got it pretty much straightened out now, but I’m going avoid re-reading it at all costs. Re-reading leads to changes which leads to eyes bleeding.

Today I’m working on introducing her to the rest of the characters she’ll be interacting with and it’s turning into another info dump. This is not good. It’s got to move the story forward, it’s got ignite the spark of attraction between my two main characters, it’s got to keep feeding that flame - Argh!

And the worst part is, I want to stick with this section until it’s done. I don’t have the urge to play games, I don’t want to watch T.V., I’m ignoring the siren call of my stack of unread books. All I want to do is write.

How scarey is that?

I Knew There Was a Good Reason!

Remember when I said I wanted to get all my writing stuff organized before I got down to brass tacks? Then, figuring it was just one more procrastination ploy I stopped organizing and started writing. I’m here to tell you now that it’s come back to bite me on the ass.

I had the urge to work on DIF today and I finally reached the part where I’m going to explain a little more about the mist they’re all stuck in. This particular section has been plaguing me since I first came up with the idea for DIF. I have to come up with a way to explain it to my female main character in such a way that it’s not just an info dump, is plausible enough to be believable, and yet leaves room for the FMC’s doubts.

One of the things that needs to be explained is what the different colours of the mist mean. A long time ago I was whining about this to a writing friend of mine who suggested I make up a poem or a nursery rhyme to explain the colours. What a great idea! Look at the origins of a lot of old nursery rhymes and you’ll see what a great idea it is. So I made up the poem on the spot. Only now I can’t find it. I remember seeing the scraps of paper I worked it out on, and I vaguely remember refining it and writing it down somewhere when I was organizing, but I have no clue where it’s gone.

You have no idea how irritating this is.

Really.

But, as tempting as it is to stop what I’m doing to look for the poem and get the organizing done, I’m not going to do it. Instead, I’ll leave a marker (okay, more like coloured text to mark the spot) where the poem is going to go and write around it. After the pathetic word count last week I can’t afford not to strike while the iron is hot.

But as soon as that iron cools off, I’ll be starting work on the organizing again.

Friday Update

Worked mostly on Changeling today. It’s probably a good thing when you keep plugging away at a story because you want to know how it turns out. The older brother and the best friend I was talking about yesterday have decided they might like bigger parts so I’m trying to oblige them.

The word counts for the week:
Magic +306
Changeling +2977
Driving Into Forever +2534
Total +5817

To be honest, I thought I did better than that.

However, when I think back on it, I spent one day with the heating pad on my back and another day sick. Add to that a few other things I have on the go and the books I got last weekend singing their siren songs and it’s actually surprising I did as well as I did.

Guess this means I don’t get the weekend off.

Pushy Characters

So, I was working away on Changeling yesterday, and my main character had to go talk to his brother . . . He’s spoken to this brother before but this brother has always been just a very minor character, someone more referred to than interacted with. Suddenly, this character starts intruding into the story. And now he’s pushing for a story of his own!

So I spent the next couple of hours writing out a one-page out-line for big brother’s story. This would be the 3rd sequel to Changeling, I’ve already got the other two outlined. So now big brother can meet my female main character’s best friend and I don’t have to worry about inappropriate behavior from either of them. She’s getting her own story too, but it won’t involve big brother.

There's this whole bad guy secret organization sub-plot that's crept into it and I think I'm going to have to go back and start developing it a little more because it’s becoming more and more important to the over all story.

Now, if these characters would just start co-operating, maybe I’d get one of these books finished!

Happy First Day of October

Yikes! It’s been a few days since I last posted. My bad.

The truth is, there hasn’t been that much to post about. I’ve been writing, I’ve been reading, I’ve been suffering a lot of upper back pain which I’ve been treating with the heating pad. The heating pad is fast becoming a close, personal friend since my doctor can't see me until January.

I’ve been working on all three WIPs. Monday I concentrated on Changeling and yesterday I seemed to flit from one to the other. Today, so far, I’ve worked on both Magic and Changeling, but I have DIF sitting there waiting for its turn.

I’m not going to lie and say I’ve been going great guns, I haven’t. Monday I think I managed about 650 words, but it’s still 650 more than I would have had. Yesterday I didn’t think to check my word counts. Yeah, it'd be nice if every day could be a 3,000 word day, but I count any day that shows progress as a good day.