How do you make the fantastic elements of your stories seem real?

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I picked up a 3-ring binder (with subject dividers and paper) which has become an invaluable tool as I edit.

The subjects I have inside->

Language:

For different sayings, language patterns, and full-blown languages.

Religion:

To keep track of the cultures and sayings associated with each religion.

Calendar:

To keep track of the date, timelines, open threads, celebrations, etc.

Chapters:

Where I keep track of the goals and changes I make as I edit each chapter.

Maps:

As I edit, every new location gets a quick hand-drawn map to be sure I’ve got everything straight.

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It’s making keeping track of everything much easier; the binder sits open in my lap as a reference as I type.

Can you think of any other subject I overlooked that I can stick in the binder?

In an effort to get through my first draft, I put a few worldbuilding projects on the backburner. And I’m glad I did.

One of those projects was to develop a calendar. Now that I’m in the editing phase, it needs done now. Or else making fixes during later revisions will be a pain.

I first mentioned the madcap idea of creating my own calendar for Five Rings and went into detail with the actual days of the week here. Read the rest of this entry »

So it turns out books on editing and revising are mostly for speeches, dissertations, and essays.

If there’s a book out there solely on the revision process for a novel, I had trouble finding it. Maybe it’s too narrow a market—maybe too few people actually finish their first novel and then need help revising it?

None-the-less, there’s plenty of online articles to find. And most books on writing have a chapter or two devoted to revision. So I’ve been reading some of those, and I’ve found: Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the finish line—You’ve made it!

Without further ado, the final statistics:

1.

Joseph Lewis:

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Just two words today.

The & End.

^__^

Yes, the ‘End of the Book’ I’ve been craving since the beginning is upon us!

It feels so good to be done. I’ve been working on this thing since … September 2007.

But it’s just a first draft. To be honest, you couldn’t pay me to show this fuzzy-logic, missing-scene-ridden, poor dialogue version to anybody. I guess that’s what a revision is for, right? :)

I have the option to start a new project for NPI and continue on for the next 6 days, or to stop here. I think at this point I’m going to stop here, keep my mind focused on Five Rings, & read a few books on how to properly tackle a first revision.

I’ll post the final word count when I get Total Assistant working (my free trial expired).

Ahoy thar, mateys. Ye be crossin’ the gangplank to yet another tally fer the Novel-Push Initiative. And this one be massive, includin’ average wordcounts and goin’ from the 15th all the way to the 24th. I’ll spare ye the exposition and let the numbers speak fer themselves.

NPI, says I. Yarr. 

1.

Joseph Lewis:

Tally:

Previous Total WC: 14,479. Read the rest of this entry »

Yo, yo, yo peeps. Not only is it FRIDAY, (yeah, it’s freaking Friday, party people!) but you’ve managed click on another wondrous (read: long-winded) pseudo-weekly progress report of the Novel-Push Initiative.

N

P

I

YEAH BABY!!! Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, I was heavily discouraged by certain recent books and movies that are socially embraced and loved even though they have what I may consider bad writing.

In the end, I decided to just move on and be a little upset. And after packsister’s comments, I think we both agreed that we can only write for ourselves and not sweat the luck some of those authors seem to have.

But…I’m going to reiterate something I’ve heard recently that strikes the very core of the issue I’m having.

Gimmicks ultimately can’t compensate for bad writing.

And, with that, I’m at peace with all of this.

But what does that mean, exactly? Read the rest of this entry »

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day! It’s time to tally again. I decided to wait until day 11 to have an even 10 days to look at.

1.

Joseph Lewis:

A big part of NPI is to aspire to be more like Mr. Lewis. Joseph’s experience with writing and completing novels really shows in his daily word counts. He religiously sits down at the keyboard and writes a sizable amount every day, all while posting insightful blog posts and keeping a busy schedule.

Your diligence has been an inspiration for me to try harder this month.

Tally:

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Every once in a while, a movie or book comes out that the general population  embraces—they overwhelmingly feels it’s great.

A lot of the time they’re right. But sometimes—let’s face it—they’re wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

This is what I was trying to post yesterday. But thanks to some glitchcraft, it wouldn’t post. :P

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It’s time to tally. Let’s see how everyone’s doing. (This will not be including Day 5 because not everybody’s posted today’s WC yet.)

1.

Merrilee Faber:

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My fingers flitted, they floated, they fleetly fleeted, & they flew.

WC: 1,184.

My writing session went very well today!

WC: 412

WC: 382

Not too many words today; I’m kinda tired after spending the day at a family gathering.

WC: 448.

“…The Aydomarian view of Joun has been obscured for centuries by the visors on their war helms.”

If you didn’t notice, I posted yesterday’s word count on Twitter. So I might do that sometimes. My tweets actually show up on this website on the left-hand column if you scroll down a bit, under ‘Latest Twitters’.

Welcome to the dawn of a new Novel-Push Initiative!~

It feels refreshing to sit down at the keyboard with purpose, doesn’t it?

If you want to follow along, here’s (AFAIK) all the people that are participating in May’s NPI:

christopher:

http://www.theamphoraproject.com/

Merrilee Faber:

http://notenoughwords.wordpress.com/ 

Joseph Lewis:

http://josephrobertlewis.wordpress.com/

RG Sanders:

http://rgsanders.com/

And myself.

It looks like most of us have gotten off to a good start already! I wish you the best and hope we all happily and easily reach May 31st. :)

Last call folks!: If you want in on the Novel-Push Initiative, drop a message below.

For those of you already signed up, now’s a great time to do some pre-meditation on what you’ll be writing. After all, NPI is only one day away (yes, April’s one of those damnable months with only thirty days). 

For me, I think fine-tuning is key. It really helps my fingers fly later if I have that group of characters that the MC will be meeting soon fleshed out now; where they live/how they operate/back-stories/who they know, etc. I try to scrutinize my societies’ social mores and tweak them until they make more sense.

I’ll also daydream upcoming scenes in different ways from many different perspectives to better line up future events and figure out how to best narrate scenes without losing reader interest and key information. And (if I’m lucky) maybe even figure out ways to squeeze in some fun facts along the way without making it seem too much like exposition.

Are you preparing? If so, how?

THE BASICS:

• Event will run from May 1st-31st.
• Simply write 350+ words per day!
• To discourage project-jumping, please pick only one project for this event (preferably something novella/novel-sized).
• You’ll need to publish your daily word counts every day by midnight using a blog of some kind; something that I can check against a time-stamp (Even a Twitter account will do).

               The simplest Tweet can look like this:

               350 words.
               11:59 PM May 1st from web.

• Of course, you’ll want to double-check your local settings to make sure it matches your time zone.

ADDITIONAL RULES:

• You are allowed to project-jump if and only if you finish your manuscript during the event.
• If you’d like to participate but haven’t signed up yet, you’ll need to reply to this or any of my blog posts before May 1st, stating what project you’d like to work on and a link to the blog you wish to use for the event. Alternatively, you are also welcome to contact me.
• You can be as detailed as you want with your posts. The simplest post can just be a word count, but you’re welcome to keep track of your total word count, talk about what you’ve been writing, and maybe even share a snippet or two—if you’re feeling generous.
• Since we’re upping the ante from 250 to 350 words per day, and I’d like to see everyone make it to May 31st,  I am allowing one day of reprieve. Hopefully, this will go a long way to prevent burn-out/serve as padding in the event of an emergency.
• NaNoWriMo famously averages out to 1,667 words per day. So here’s the revised break-down:

1. A “Knock-out” is 0-349 words.
2. An “Update” is 350-999 words.
3. A  “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.
4. A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
5. An “End of the Book” is when you’ve completed your MIP and type ‘THE END’.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?:

• At the very minimum, if you keep up, you’ll end up with 10,850 words added to your work-in-progress. This is a great kick-in-the-butt for us procrastinators!
• I think you’ll find NPI is surprisingly uplifting and friendly—everybody participating (and the people watching from the sidelines) tend to be extremely supportive. Which leads me to…
• You’ll meet lots of new friends! :D
• I will periodically link to each of your sites and post your word-tallies up to a “Knock-out”.

So, still with me? Great! Again, I advise you to take no prisoners as you march your plots ever forward, towards—and beyond—May 31st. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Out-of-the-blue-rant time! A rant about … vegetables? No, don’t worry. This does have something to do with writing.

Brave souls may click below to proceed. …

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