What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

Helix said:

Uploading to Amazon is free, but the bits before that --- editing and covers --- cost money if they're done professionally.

Click to expand...

I paid $20 for the pic on my book cover, and did the rest myself.

Mid-second draft, I've just realised that I'm going to need to almost entirely rewrite the second act.

I may need brandy.

Finished last four chapters of Part 4: Stranger Within the Gates and Interlude: Wagons Ho! I should hop into Part 5: One False Move, but I'm going to catch up on my reading.

indianroads said:

I paid $20 for the pic on my book cover, and did the rest myself.

Click to expand...

The cover to the far left was $600+ at Getty, but I found it on istock for $33 and let createspace do the rest, because I don't have Adobe Photoshop or any other editor to use and still be able to keep the dpi at 300.

I can't wait to find art for my cover.

Right now I have figured more out about my villain. However now a character I like must die This will be hard.

Jan74 said:

I can't wait to find art for my cover.

Right now I have figured more out about my villain. However now a character I like must die This will be hard.

Click to expand...

Oh, dear, but the more the villain hurts the MC, the better for the story. Good luck!

My YA novel is getting too long, but hey, it's first draft. Actually, it's a rewrite from a novel I'd written last century and shelved, but Leela or her twin sister won't go away.

She had appropriated a letter that's about to change her future; the address is Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. I have to write said letter. The grandfather is Russian, and an ex-KGB agent. The year is 1980. Any ideas about turn of phrase, etc, to keep in mind? The letter is addressed to Leela's mother.

Leela and her family had moved to New York City from Australia a few years ago.

My writing has slowed down to a crawl. Over-worked at the job, stressed, nothing I'm putting on the page seems to be what I really want to say, but I can't take a break from it. Even if it is crap and I have to go back to it and rewrite, I have to keep moving on, even if moving on is only a hundred words in a day. Last time I took a break it took two years to get back to writing again. I just wish people would leave me alone.

Tepelus said:

My writing has slowed down to a crawl. Over-worked at the job, stressed, nothing I'm putting on the page seems to be what I really want to say, but I can't take a break from it. Even if it is crap and I have to go back to it and rewrite, I have to keep moving on, even if moving on is only a hundred words in a day. Last time I took a break it took two years to get back to writing again. I just wish people would leave me alone.

Click to expand...

Try writing a short story on a different subject. That can feel like a vacation from your WIP, and when you come back to it you'll see it with fresh eyes.

travelgal said:

Oh, dear, but the more the villain hurts the MC, the better for the story. Good luck!Thanks!!!!

My YA novel is getting too long, but hey, it's first draft. Actually, it's a rewrite from a novel I'd written last century and shelved, but Leela or her twin sister won't go away.

She had appropriated a letter that's about to change her future; the address is Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. I have to write said letter. The grandfather is Russian, and an ex-KGB agent. The year is 1980. Any ideas about turn of phrase, etc, to keep in mind? The letter is addressed to Leela's mother.

Leela and her family had moved to New York City from Australia a few years ago.

Click to expand...

So the letter is from the granfather who was kgb and is now in prison. I need to know more about the letter. This sounds really interesting anyways. The only thing political that sticks in my head from the 80's (I was a teenager) is "Take down this wall" lol!

Tepelus said:

My writing has slowed down to a crawl. Over-worked at the job, stressed, nothing I'm putting on the page seems to be what I really want to say, but I can't take a break from it. Even if it is crap and I have to go back to it and rewrite, I have to keep moving on, even if moving on is only a hundred words in a day. Last time I took a break it took two years to get back to writing again. I just wish people would leave me alone.

Click to expand...

Was it Virginia Wolf who said "all women need is some money and a room to themselves" something along those lines anyways What would it be like to be left alone? That would be heaven, although I have the day today I'm off and the kids are at school, but the idea of running away and having my own little hide away with no worries is a dream!

I'm feeling a bit frustrated insofar as growing my confidence as a writer. I know that I've improved a lot on my fantasy novel, it used to be carpet bombed with passive voice, adverbs, and too much exposition. It's beginning to look like something I'm proud of. One of my friends sent my work to a published author, and he enjoyed it. Some minor quibbles were raised, such as the voice being a bit heavy handed, but the setting is ancient antiquity, so that much was intentional to set tone. His recommendation was to bring the action closer to the reader since the first three paragraphs were composed entirely of setting. I spent all night taking his advice and made a new intro hook, but after getting some feedback I suspect that it may need to be rewritten completely. The frustrating part isn't that it needs to be rewritten, the frustrating part is having a steady source of feedback.

I'm trying to learn as much about the craft as I can, articles, youtube tutorials, etc, but the best way to really learn (for me) is to have others sit down, read it, and tell me where they're getting bored, confused, etc. That's been really difficult, because it's hard to convince someone to sit down and devote their precious cognitive juices to something that, for all they know, might be garbage. It's also difficult to weigh opinions. One person said that he felt jostled, that the whole thing should be rewritten, and that I was throwing in action, dialogue, and description in willy nilly. Others say it has a perfect balance between those three things. Naturally, I take more critical voices seriously because I want to improve, but as I said it's difficult to weight opinions especially if your pool of feedback is so small and you have to pull teeth to get what little you've got. Now, I'm a third of the way through chapter two but it's been hard to focus because my mind keeps yelling "BUT CHAPTER ONE MIGHT BE ALL FUCKED UP. FIGURE OUT IF IT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND GO FIX IT"

Finished editing part 5 and the first chapter of part 6. This is the last part before the epilogue. Right now I'm going to lay down and read, maybe take a nap, and edit another chapter or two later.

Wahara said:

The frustrating part isn't that it needs to be rewritten, the frustrating part is having a steady source of feedback.

I'm trying to learn as much about the craft as I can, articles, youtube tutorials, etc, but the best way to really learn (for me) is to have others sit down, read it, and tell me where they're getting bored, confused, etc. ...it's been hard to focus because my mind keeps yelling "BUT CHAPTER ONE MIGHT BE ALL FUCKED UP. FIGURE OUT IF IT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND GO FIX IT"

Click to expand...

Welcome to AW!

Studying your craft and getting feedback are awesome, and essential... and they're the *second* (and/or third) best way to learn writing. The best way is to write. And then write some more. And then -- keep writing.

ETA: if you're getting stuck on new words because you keep screwing around with the old ones, you might try giving yourself explicit, verbal permission to write a shitty first draft. Saying it out loud is the key, and phrasing it positively - "I give myself permission to just write. I will keep writing until the story is done, no matter what." (NOTE: If you phrase it as "I will not edit until I'm done," your brain will focus on the word "edit." I promise, this is a thing that happens!)

Jan74 said:

So the letter is from the granfather who was kgb and is now in prison. I need to know more about the letter. This sounds really interesting anyways. The only thing political that sticks in my head from the 80's (I was a teenager) is "Take down this wall" lol!

Was it Virginia Wolf who said "all women need is some money and a room to themselves" something along those lines anyways What would it be like to be left alone? That would be heaven, although I have the day today I'm off and the kids are at school, but the idea of running away and having my own little hide away with no worries is a dream!

Click to expand...

I grew up in the 80s, cold war era, but he's not in prison for being a KGB agent, he's in prison for murdering children. He preaches to Leela's mother, Rhianna, about

a/her snooping about his place (and hence discovering a body), and selling off his Portland property (the mother knows nothing about this property, because Leela had obeyed his instructions never to tell anyone). He taunts her about running off to New York so he'd never find her.

b/how to keep Leela's talented sister Cecile in line so she doesn't become a whore. Rhianna's sister committed suicide when she was fourteen; she had been pregnant.

He took Leela hunting from age 5-12 because she doesn't talk a shit-storm like everyone else, but she (and his wife) were the only people he had smacked around (never his daughters). Leela concludes this is because she and her grandmother (who resemble each other) were D-grade people, a term Leela's father uses to describe her; so they deserved it. Everything in Leela's life since had reinforced what Grandfather had taught her, although her parents never touched her.

In the letter, he terms Leela as 'the runt' who would have blabbed about the property as soon as she was questioned (the twins were twelve when he was imprisoned, but they know nothing about it; Rhianna made sure of that. Leela was told he'd gone to Europe while Cecile had never liked him).

This is towards the end of the novel. Once a whiny mouse, Leela is now a gangster and a marksman with serious street cred (her family and school have no idea she is behind many of the robberies and assaults in the area). Two friends had died, and another presumed dead (ex CIA; she had discovered who he was from snooping), and Leela now chafs against the gang; she wants out.

The letter shows her a way out; but she doesn't yet know she'd been manipulated by the ex-CIA agent.

***

I don't know how you parents do it; kids require a lot of energy, and that's when things are dandy. That Woolf quote is so true!

TEPELUS; I do hope you find a way out of your rut, and your job doesn't suck too much. Last time I took a break from writing was seven years cos I thought I seriously sucked, not because of kids, etc.

Wahara said:

I'm trying to learn as much about the craft as I can, articles, youtube tutorials, etc, but the best way to really learn (for me) is to have others sit down, read it, and tell me where they're getting bored, confused, etc. That's been really difficult, because it's hard to convince someone to sit down and devote their precious cognitive juices to something that, for all they know, might be garbage. It's also difficult to weigh opinions. One person said that he felt jostled, that the whole thing should be rewritten, and that I was throwing in action, dialogue, and description in willy nilly. Others say it has a perfect balance between those three things. Naturally, I take more critical voices seriously because I want to improve, but as I said it's difficult to weight opinions especially if your pool of feedback is so small and you have to pull teeth to get what little you've got. Now, I'm a third of the way through chapter two but it's been hard to focus because my mind keeps yelling "BUT CHAPTER ONE MIGHT BE ALL FUCKED UP. FIGURE OUT IF IT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND GO FIX IT"

Click to expand...

I agree with ED. It's more than likely Chapter One is poo-poo, but finish the novel first!

Have you read through the Learn Writing with Uncle JIM threads? Lots of wisdom in there.

Glad you've got some readers. It appears you're doing something right, but in the end, you can't please everyone. If one person raises a point, you can ignore it. If two more people raise the same point, it deserves consideration. In the end, it's your story, and you gotta use your instincts.

I'm slowly getting it done. Got two of ten chapters done and currently 2,600 words in on #3. I'm now just looking to finish this thing over pinning a month to when it's suppose to be done.

I'm trying to work on monthly word counts rather than daily word count. My schedule between work and my workload for school is just not consistent enough for me to hit a specific word count every single day.

I'm going to try for 50,000 words a month. In the past, I've done that easily, but I may not reach it because of all my other commitments.

My goal is to edit the next seven chapters by bedtime tomorrow morning. Done more before. And the story is done, I'm just correcting grammar, spelling, overused words, POV slips, etc.

Finished the first section of my novel today. 24,000 words in! Time for a time jump and a different character's POV.

Tepelus said:

My writing has slowed down to a crawl. Over-worked at the job, stressed, nothing I'm putting on the page seems to be what I really want to say, but I can't take a break from it. Even if it is crap and I have to go back to it and rewrite, I have to keep moving on, even if moving on is only a hundred words in a day. Last time I took a break it took two years to get back to writing again. I just wish people would leave me alone.

Click to expand...

Can totally relate to this!

Taylor Harbin said:

Finished the first section of my novel today. 24,000 words in! Time for a time jump and a different character's POV.

Click to expand...

Completed 7 chapters with a grand total word count of 16K+ words. I'm down to the last six chapters and the epilogue, which I hope to finished before dawn and begin Draft 7 sometime tomorrow.

I'm thinking I might do some more writing tonight. That's often when I'm at my most productive.

I'm sick of editing. For the hour.

Completed editing draft 6. And I'm like

Yet another person in my critique group wants me to make the women in my detention center suspicious and unfriendly to my protagonist, a newcomer there.

No!, Not going to do it. It's not like a prison, the women are not criminals. There is more than enough conflict in my WIP. It's not conflict challenged.