How is everyone?

Jan74

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Just wondering where everyone is in their writing and how things are going? I need to spend time on my antagonist and really nail down the conflict in the story and how I want that to look.
 

ElaineA

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Just got Novella 2 back from Alpha Reader, giving it a few days to stew on feedback, tweaking Novella 1 before editor takes a last whack at it pre-publication. But my mind is already on the next project (and the last one, which got interrupted by novellas getting picked up).

Focus, puppy.
 

CEtchison

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Finally figured out the beginning of this book which has been a total pain in my ***. ::HULK SMASH::

Of course I now have a ton of catching up to do since I've spent weeks wondering how the hell I managed to complete three books.
 

MerriTudor

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Winston Churchill said when you're going through hell, keep going. Which pretty much describes my slog through first draft hell. It's really a distillation of a 22,000 word "synopsis" into actual chapters, enlarging/adding scenes and exposition, while avoiding some gaping plot holes that I'm having no luck filling in. I try to just getting a good running start before leaping over them. No telling how deep some of them are. If I fall in, I may not be able to climb back out.

Ugh.
 

Jan74

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Elaine-Congrats sounds super exciting! I hope one day I get to say "waiting for my editor...." :)

CEtchison- Nothing better than figuring out something, I'm happy you found you're begging.

Merri- Now I have that tune stuck in my head...if you're going through hell, keep on going....somebody sings this in a country song I think. If you need help we could throw out random ideas for your plot holes. I just need more details.

Yesterday I wrote a chapter from the antagonist pov, I'm really going to enjoy writing her. She's sooooo bad!
 

Twick

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Perhaps I should mention that in Pearl Harbor I found the love story so clichéd that I was able to foretell everything that happened at least 15 minutes before the script revealed it. "Oh, he's 'dead'? Well, his buddy will comfort her. And they'll fall in love. And she'll get pregnant. And first character isn't dead at all. Hilarity will ensue when he returns. And then Guy #2 will heroically die, so the heroine never has to actually make a choice, because refusing the love of any man makes a woman look heartless. And they'll call the child after Guy #2, for so thoughtfully removing the need for her to make a choice."

If people can see everything in your love triangle coming from a mile away, it's not working.
 

MerriTudor

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Jan, I, too, want to say "waiting for my editor..." Except my sad brain leapfrogged over that and came up with "My editor is waiting for yet another of my obscenely popular and ungodly profitable manuscripts (she's actually SOBBING), but I'm so bored with all of it...I need a break...I think I'll go watch them film my first novel. I really wanted someone hotter than Aidan Turner in the lead, but I'll live with it 'cause they paid me a gold mine for it." HAH!

Oh, Jan - writing "the bad people" is so much fun! You can let all your adorable little inner demons out to play. It's a beautiful thing! What's your antagonist up to?

And I'm sorely tempted to ask for some help with a MAJOR plot hole in my WIP. It's not even so much of a plot hole...it's more like that game where you stack up all wooden blocks and take turns pulling one out and if you pull the wrong one the whole thing crashes and burns. Yeah. It's just like that. You'd think I'd get that sorted before I wrote any of the rest of it, wouldn't you?
 

Jan74

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Twick-I love the scene when Kate and Josh get tangled up in the parachutes....favorite part of the movie! Yes it was cliched and we all knew what was going to happen :) There will be no love triangles in this book!

Merri- She's like a hungry feline in heat with her claws out. I think maybe by the end she might become a sympathetic character but I really am trying hard to make her unsympathetic. It's going to be tricky. I want the reader to feel she's getting her just desserts and needs to pay for the chaos she's caused... and she's caused alot!
 

Marlys

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Revising, revising, revising. Got the long fantasy novella back from (awesome) beta reader the other day, and have to work through some issues she identified.

I'm fired up to work on that, but where I REALLY need to focus is a gay historical romance which also has a full draft but needs revision. It's most like the three books that were orphaned when my publisher closed, so I'm hoping to find an agent to sell it to a press that would also want my older stuff. I feel like that should take priority. Just need to do it.
 

MerriTudor

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Jan - let that wild cat out of the bag! I love it when the antagonist finally gets what's comin' to her. It's satisfying even if she turns out to be a little bit sympathetic - like when you can identify with WHY she does the bad things she does...but would never do those bad things yourself. Even if you'd really like to! This is why the "bad" characters are sometimes so much richer and more rewarding to writers and to readers than the good ones.
 

Jan74

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Merri- Thanks. I do believe I'll enjoy writing her. Yes sometimes the protagonist can be what do they call them mary jane or something. I don't want that. My mc needs some major flaws which I haven't worked out yet.
 

Jan74

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Marlys- Good luck finding an agent! Congrats on being done the first draft. If I ever make it past chapter 5 I'll be thrilled!
 

StoryofWoe

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Kudos to y'all for being so darned productive! :)

I've spent the last few days cooking and baking for my family's Fourth of July shindig, which would have put a damper on my writing, were I actually working on anything. I have a romance novella out on sub with a digital-first publisher. There's an anthology call I'd like to resurrect a half-finished piece for, plus another idea involving a kinky animal-masquerade-themed party. Ideally, I would submit both, since the limit is two stories per author, but first I need to reestablish a routine. In the meantime, I've been futzing around with author-related social media, working on my website, creating an Amazon author page, etc.

What I'd really like to be working on is a novel. However, my most recent idea is completely stalled. I have backstory and some main characters, but no plot. Or, at least, no enthusiasm for the handful of plots I've come up with. :e2hammer:
 

Jan74

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Storyofwoe-You've been busy! The only social media I have is my facebook, but I won't be publishing under my real name so that doesn't help.

Elaine-I'll have to tell my hubby it's kissing day! Maybe that's why I woke up in the middle of the night wrapped around him like a koala to a tree!

Still just plugging away. I am leaving saturday for two weeks.....I will check in when I get back :) I'm procrastinating on the packing. Today I took both my boys for haircuts.
 

Jan74

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Pterofan-That's awesome! ps. I love your avatar!!!!!
 

Lil

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Well, since you ask…:)
I'm getting ready to self-pub the fourth book in my Victorian Adventures series, about to dive into a major revision of the prequel to that series, and about halfway through the first of a new series I'm planning. In other words, I'm busily going out of my mind.
SaveSave
 
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StoryofWoe

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Storyofwoe-You've been busy! The only social media I have is my facebook, but I won't be publishing under my real name so that doesn't help.
I only have a personal Facebook account, too. I just don't see the point in having an author page right now. Maybe when/if I land an agent, or have something longer than a short story published.

Just sent a short story to Evernight for their "Romance on the Go" line. Discovered I can't write short stories any faster than I write anything else. :tongue
Ugh, I'm the same way. Both in terms of writing and recovery time; I need the same amount of time off after writing 4k as I do 40k. Best of luck w/ the Evernight submission!


I'm assuming this is intended to be an ongoing thread, so here's an update: After reading up on writing respectfully about sex workers and trying to reconcile my ethical intentions with my character arcs, I realized last night why my last erotica/erom/erotic women's fic novel idea crashed and burned: I've been inadvertently trying to plot a book that perpetuates a harmful stereotype that I disagree with. At least, I think it does. I might pop into the Erotica board and see if others agree/have suggestions.
 

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Ready to give up, though this isn't all that new. It's just that when you think things can't get any worse...in my experience, they always do.
 

Jan74

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Lil- Wow your 4th!!!!CONGRATS!!!!:Hail:

Storyofwoe- Let us know what the pros in the erotica forum have to say. Its hard leaving our own biases at the door. I relate more to my antagonist than I do my protagonist, but my protagonist is who I want to be more like, they both share parts of me :)

LJD- (((((Hugs))))) I'm not sure if your talking about things getting worse in life, or worse with your book. If it's the book, sometimes what I do is I save another copy of my work and then go in and monkey around with things so I don't disturb the flow of my original. Of course when I do that it creates more work because I always like the messed around version better and then I have to merge the two somehow. Or I'll just scribble stuff in a notebook. If its life....I hope things get better :Hug2:

ok girls I'm signing off for two weeks!!!!!Off to camp, I can't wait....I have six books to take with me and I will be bringing the computer but we have no internet. No TV no radio no phone no nothing!!!!!! Keep this thread going!!!!!
:Sun::e2dance::Sun::Sun::Sun:
 

MerriTudor

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Two weeks + 6 books + laptop = HEAVEN.

Here's my contribution to keeping the thread going. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about actually finishing my WIP after trudging unhappily through an Official First Draft of the prologue and Chapter One. There are so many missing scenes and holes ahead of me that it weighed on my mind. But I happened upon a YouTube video that gave me renewed vigor!

I had watched one on dressing an 18th century woman, so get recommendations of similar videos, one of which was on papillotte curls. Papillotte refers to parchment (even though the curls are also called "butterfly curls" probably confusing it with the French word for butterfly which is papillion). The hair is divided into strands, pomaded, twisted into curls and the curls are then wrapped in paper. Then you take a "pinching iron" which looks like a pair of big old tongs with shallow cups at the ends, and pinch the curl with them.

The paper protects the hair from burning - and with pomade on it, I imagine it might be pretty flammable. The iron isn't red-hot, apparently, but one slip on the part of the hairstylist and you could probably get a nasty burn. So when you show up at a party, everyone is wondering: is that odd red mark on your neck a pinching iron burn or a giant hickey? Inquiring minds want to know! Me, I can't see anyway waving a hot iron anywhere near my precious eyes, so I'd be the chick wearing the unfashionable wig.

Anyway, this information percolated in my brain and my brain turned it into a scene with my heroine and her best friend curling each other's hair for a ball, before which my heroine will be (kind of ) married to the hero in an illegal wedding ceremony. The scene yielded new and intriguing character development for the best friend, and showed the depth of their friendship and love for one another. It moved the plot along, and made a bridge to the wedding scene.

Needless to say, I'm going to scour YouTube for more 18th century research. You never know the big dividends some odd little bit of info might pay out!
 

Tanydwr

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In the midst of the longest writing streak I've had in years - 1000 word minimum per day since 3rd June! Once I did as many as 4000 - but then I find it quite easy to write arguments... However, am rapidly coming to the conclusion that my book is actually two concurrent books if I want to give both romances therein their proper attention. And the characters keep surprising me by displaying heretofore unknown characteristics! (Which is a good thing as this story may or may not have started as a Pride and Prejudice variation, so character alterations beyond the basic ones are actually very welcome as they come into their own.)

Still, I've a feeling I might break the streak this week, as it's going to be very busy, but I'm going to keep going as long as I can!