Paddy's Wanderings

Where the Wind Blows

It is Day 5 of NaNo and I have exactly... let me count here.. 3,102 words on a new project completed. Six hundred words a day on average. I need to do around 1800 to make it to 50k by the end of the month. This does not bode well.

In the past month, I have wrote less online, a lot less. I have delved deep into last years project and.. got lost. The goal was to have a working, finished copy for people to do a beta read. I have not even got as far as the better 1/2 alpha read. Heavy sigh...

My espectations are way beyond my means. I am kinda like that. I gave my self a year to have a finished novel and thought I would be shopping it around starting this month. It is not gonna happen. So I keep working on it. I will get there.

And that is my problem. I am stuck in that world and it is really hard to get out of it. I say this knowing full well that I have done just over a hundred freelance articles online. I have also produced about 300 blog posts in that time. I have published a few poems and even had a short story in an anthology. Behind the scenes, I have worked on countless poems and over a dozen short stories. I have even ventured into sheeple stories and stuff like that, stuff that is more non-fiction but still story like, i.e. the sheeple stories.

I have also worked on that blasted novel for many, many hours. To start a new novel project seems foolhardy at best, but that is what I am trying to do. Ambitous or insane, I dont know which, but there it is.

I guess I will go wherever the wind blows, see what I can see. Maybe I wont make it this year, but thats okay. I do write more, a lot more. Some of it even seems.. cool. Maybe thats the point, to just do it, worry about all the other stuff later. It will happen when it happens.

Until then.. keep on scribbling.

 

Novel Tone News Sept 2010

Welcome to the blasted project...

A few things burning in the back ground, leading to the push toward November. I have been keeping a journal for one of the characters and plan on using parts of that in the story. I do this to flesh out a bunch of ideas that need to go into the narrative but I have yet to figure out how to do this. So, I have this ongoing thing that so far, works pretty well in the writing of the ideas into coherent form. I think..

Either way, it is a good exercise and for me, a good way to tackle some of the problems that I have created. As I make the story more complex, take the characters deeper, I find that all those ideas, all those snippets of thought and conversations, are gelling into ideas and, for lack of a better word, stuff that can be imported into the whole story.

This is important to me. I need the depth of the story to fill, to add more meaning and resonance to the themes that are scratched upon in the plot. Makes sense to me. I take a setting that is not all that unfamiliar, with people who act in a similar fashion to most people, and tell a story. Depth matters.

I spent this morning working the process, getting prepared to make a run for it. Who knows if this makes sense or is the correct way to write a novel. It works for me. Maybe over thinking it a bit. But, this is the first shot, it has to hit the target. I will worry about the second and what not if I get to that bridge. Until then, it is time to go for it. Anything less is not within the pale.

A Light at the End

I am calling myself out on this one. I have a plan. By November 1st, this blasted novel project is going to Alpha Reader, a.k.a. better 1/2. Once she is done, and it doesn't suck so bad I curl up in a corner and sob.... I will let it out into Beta Readers. Maybe by Thanksgiving! If, you know, I can con someone into reading it.

It has been ten months.. good grief. Time to finish revision one and get it out there for some feedback. Then, it will be revision 2.0 time. Then the process of a finished product to go off into the wide blue yonder and see if I can sell it.. I am hoping by April 1st. Yes.. I am using the irony of that date...

After all, that is the plan, to get it on the shelves of a local bookstore. Sure, I could bind it and slip it onto the shelf of the local B&N, but that doesn't really count, now does it? It is a goal, but not a measure of success.

Success is finishing it to where I like it, then shipping it off to other folks and having them read it, and enjoying the story. Anything else? Pure gravy.

So we are on the road to finish... almost there Papa Smurf.. almost there.. 10 weeks, easy as pie.

The end is just the beginning...

Novel Tone News August 2010

If writing a novel is like giving birth, then my nine months are up, right? Whoo hoo!

Only one slight problem, easily overlooked.. it is an elephant pregnancy and those are like 22 months long. So I have come to understand, or think, or hopefully, really believe. I don't now and I stopped asking. A good day writing in this is 300 words a day right now which includes editing and tinkering.

Is it done? No, not even close. How long is it? I don't know, I stopped clicking the word count thingy. Besides that goes up and down on a daily basis. Last I checked, a few months back, it was around 100k, but it has changed a bunch since then, probably a bit more now. How many chapters? I don't know, I did not number them, off hand I think there is around 35 or so. That changes as well as I tinker with adding and subtracting.

I have written as many words in back story, side story, characterizations and world building as are in the blasted manuscript. Am I over writing? Yes, I have no doubt. I am also note taking on the process as I experiment with it. I also journal and post up stuff on the blog. This is the first, serious attempt to finish and I want to know what I did. When I am done and this one is in the wild, I will know where I made mistakes, what worked, what did not. Just trying to make the second time around easier.

When this one is done, I will set it loose. Then I will start the whole crazy process again. I missed July in an update, but I was happily scribbling along in this and many other adventures.

The end is just the beginning..

Working on that Title

In a fit of insanity, I decided to post up a very short blurb from the blasted novel. I don't know why. I think because it is eating me alive on so many levels. I really want to finish this story, to complete this journey. I want folks to read it. I think I need some feedback as I go through the revisions, the crazy edits and the layering on process.

I have no clue if what I am doing is interesting, or entertaining, or even decent writing. I don't know. I have been wrapped in this story for over 20 yrs. Seriously. I have years of notes but no serious attempt to write the story, until last fall.

I said sure, I will do NaNoWriMo. I was unprepared and it was mid October, so I thought, lets dig this puppy out and try it. So far, so good. But I don't know, this is going out on a limb, in a big way.

See, I have tried other novel ideas and have stopped in various stages. Why you ask? Because those stories are not the story. This one is. I am too close, totally, irrationally in love with it.

~ This is a perfect example. After I typed that last line, I opened a section of the story and started reading and editing and tinkering with words and phrases and the like. That was two hours ago. I have other things I need to do today but I was lost in the story.

I think I will post up an occasional excerpt for the heck of it. I have been writing in the blog frequently about the whole process and what not. It helps. Stay tuned.

The end is just the beginning..

The end is just the beginning..

a brief excerpt..

Sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns thought Krish. He knew the formal, old ways would soothe everyone with the familiar rituals. Those old ways were fading in the new dawn, but people straddling the two worlds were more often then not, thankful for the Way of the Grove.

As a student long ago, he had learned the power of words and ritual. As a teacher in the middle years he had often spoke of the power of the old ways. After the fall of darkness, he believed and needed that power to keep him to the path, now more then ever.

The old friends crowded into the main room of the house, feeling uncomfortable and unsure. Brave warriors of the last war they may be, but in the house of their fallen friend, they were like cattle in the pen. Larissa made everyone welcome, seating everyone at the big table filled with food and wine. She nodded at Krish to start.

'Thank you for letting us into your home Larissa,' said Krish raising a mug of wine, 'To Carnac.'

The friends touched mugs, poured a couple drops to the floor, and drained the wine. The formality of the beginning of the Vigil behind them, Sam and Larissa started passing dishes to everyone, urging them to eat. None of them had the stomach for food, but they all filled plates and ate anyway, as part of the ritual they knew so well.

It was a ritual they did not always have the honor of performing for their friends, so many having died in the heat of battle and no proper way to send them to the next world. More often then not, it was a funeral pyre and a few words. For most of them, that would have been easier.

Novel Tone News June 2010

Everybody run and hide, Paddy is talking about the novel again!

Actually, everyone is very supportive, including the better 1/2 who has to live with me and my sometimes, okay oftentimes, crazy novel stuff. There are days my fellow wanderers, where I get sick of me prattling on about some stupid detail or the fine points of.. whatever. But, it is different now.

For a long time, I would scribble away in the darkness, left to my own devices. On occasion, I would poke my head out and talk about the latest project with better 1/2. I even have been known to start to prattle on to friends until they get that glassy eyed look, then I stop. No one wants to listen to that for very long, and who can blame them.

With the power of the 'net though, I have discovered other crazy folks who do what I do. This has helped. Really that simple. It helps to know other folks are in the same boat and we can chat a bit about it all. People who write novels are a solitary lot, and I am that way as well. But I am a social creature, so I reach out to find others doing what I am doing.

So I am scribbling away on this blasted thing. I am enjoying the process, but it is a lot of work. Not easy at all, at least for me. I have very few answers, but many questions. I'll keep going, see if I can find and answer or three, we'll see. I'll try not to prattle too much about a fine point of a character or plot point, but I can not guarantee I wont slip..

As a funny side note, someday, and I can sorta see the light on this, I will finish this one and send it out into the world. Then I will start the whole crazy process over again. I am having too much fun not to keep going.

The end is just the beginning..

Novel Tone News May 2010

Good day fellow wanders, welcome to the..Project.

Yes, the..Project has been giving me fits. I thought I would do a quick update on the pursuit of the novel. I don't know if this makes me sound stupid or naive, but it is my recording of the process.

For those keeping score at home, I have been officially at it for seven months. That is not to say I have not attempted other novels or I just started this crazy ride, far from it. For years I screwed around with it and it is just this project that I am chatting about. This is my novel project, started just before NaNoWriMo and then used as my project for that crazy month. I am sticking to this novel project and so far, so.. meh.

I have been blogging and writing poetry and short stories during this time, so its not all about writing in the novel. I do however work on it all the time. I have a very rough first draft, and now, in my opinion, comes the real writing. It is slow and painful. Today I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. That is the bad news.

The good news is I keep plugging ahead and eventually, I will finish it, of that I am sure. Lately it has been a technical issue. I am transferring files from the desk top 'puter to the waptop and that takes time. Why? Cause I am sorting all the files and putting them in a better organized system.

I also wasted a bunch of time fiddling around with a novel writing program, to help me keep everything organized. It is not going to work, cause the programs don't do anything for me that I don't already do. Frankly, they make it worse. But.. it was worth the effort, cause now I know a whole lot more and I am much more comfortable with how I do.. what I do.

And that is, as they say, that. No earth shattering news, just an update that I keep going along. I am slow, and I have no idea how long it is going to take. It will be done, when it is done. Hopefully it will be worth reading. I know it will be done when I am satisfied with it. Until then..

The end is just the beginning..

By George I think I've got it

I really should make a logo or some such do-hickey for when I start rambling on about my writing process, kinda warn everyone that , here goes Paddy, musing on the muse again. Just a gentle hey, look out, the dude is off his rocker again and is explaining in painful detail, in almost diary form, the weird machinations of his mind. I think I will forgo that and sink right in.

Writing in the blog about the process helps the process, for me. This actually helps clarify things and well, once it is out there, it stays there, as ugly as it can be at times. I can live with that. Once I get these kind of things out of the way, I move on and that, my fellow wanderers, is freeing.

Any who.. Last night I had what I have been calling, an eureka moment. No, not a television show or cool band name, an epiphany if you will. Actually it was an oh my, oh really? oh yeah, then what about, and well then what about, quick where is the paper and pen. It was a panicky I need to get this down moment. Scribble, scribble, dab, cross out, slow down and write legibly moment. But when it comes fast and furious you can't slow down, bad hand writing or no.

The idea was a lightning bolt, too hot even for the keyboard, and I had no time to boot anything but a pen. Scribble scribble, that is good, but oh wait, about that part, and if I did this then that falls in to place, oh crap boot the novel outline you idiot! Start the notes section and get it running. Whatever you do, don't let the idea slip through your fingers, move move move.

Oh the agony.. the must get it down before it slips away. But as it formed out in notes of the pen, ramblings from the keyboard, it stuck, it cemented into the brain. Oh joy, it is worthy, it will work, its gonna fit and.. oh yeah. It came out and was saved. Then I went to bed and let it percolate over night. In the light of day, it is even better, phew.

All of this was very simple really, probably so simple you will laugh. I am laughing right now, thinking, silly boy, of course this is the answer, you didn't know that? It is all about point of view. Yep, I have a POV problem that has plagued me on the..Project from day one. So I ignored it as best I could and slogged around it, kept on, pushing ahead. I am at the point that I can't ignore it, and it slowed me down.. I have the draft sitting there, looking rather ugly, even if there are some bright spots. How distressing, disappointing and frankly depressing. I was feeling rather bummed, questioning everything.

Then I solved the problem in one quick moment of clarity. I now know what to do. That is the good news. The less then good news is it is time to start hacking away. Move this here, like so, re-write this, like so, what the?? pitch that, oh and add this bit I thought would never go anywhere, oooh but I need this, and, and..

I may have caught a glimpse of a light at the end of the long creepy tunnel, just maybe. I am off to tinker, today is a good day to write.

The end is just the beginning..

Wrestling Demons

It has been a couple weeks since the last update and I thought I would scribble down in ye olde blog a bit of the thinking I have been doing. This is kind of an online journal of the trials and tribulations of a first time novel thingy.

After starting and stopping over the years, I have reached a point where this time, I am almost finished with a first draft. Some of you may find this silly, to prattle on about the process I am going through, but it is for me as much as anyone else, to keep track of all the random thoughts and feelings that plow through my brain on a daily basis. This is hard. So to keep a sense of humor and to try to keep somewhat sane, I prattle.

The other night, in the wee hours, I was slogging along, trying to come to grips with a chapter. I was failing badly. A tweak here, a paragraph gone and one added, and I was feeling pretty stupid. The story was there, just not getting to the screen the way I wanted it. I have run into that a lot lately. I am just not satisfied. The first draft, as crappy as it is, is essentially done, but there are gaps and holes and junk that is well.. just crap. It makes me mad.

So I am sitting there, thinking. I posted up on twitter the thought that keeps running through my head. I should flip the story over to a science fiction setting. From the beginning the story has been set in a fantasy world. I keep thinking it would be better in a science fiction setting. I can't get that out of my head. I started this path twenty years ago(yeah you read that right) and it has always been fantasy. But that little voice says SF, SF. It won't shut up.

The essential story, the big themes and the core of what I am writing would still be there, but the setting would be different. I think. Then again I am pretty sure that the inner being would change if I dressed it differently. I just don't know. It is a puzzle. I like this story, it needs to be told, and told well. I am just unsure if I can do it. You know those little voices that say, you can't do it, yeah that crap.

Today I have a scene that is cool, I am fleshing it out. In the first draft stage I have it in so far, its pretty lame, but the nugget is there, just gotta dig it out, polish it up. Today I'll just keep on keeping on and see where it leads me. Maybe I can shut up that voice. Maybe I'll work on the SF short stories as well, feed that desire and the big project can go back to just being what it is.

The end is just the beginning..