Lovely…

So, I’d get a fair amount of scenes plotted… and then I’d have to realise I don’t have one of the storylines developed properly. Look a bit closer, ask a few questions… and now I’ve got a complication that’s going to be a bloody pain in the ass to resolve. (Mainly, one of my viewpoint characters was enslaved for ten years, and only just managed to escape. Considering I’d intended him on being a fairly innocent character, all in all … yeah. That’s not happening.)

Which means, I get to do another char bio for the motherfucker, and figure out what to do from there on. *thunks*

And EvoLunacy is the day after tomorrow. Ack!

Plotting!

I finished up the majority of the prewriting for To Weather the Storm last night, to the point that I can actually plot. Yay!

Been playing around with StoryLines, a program specifically designed for organising plotting/prewriting notes. Very nifty program. Nice being able to notecard without fear of a little black feline fiend zooming through and fucking everything up.

So I started plotting. I’ve got 16 scenes so far. I’m estimating about 2k per scene, with the exception of the interludes with the Lords of the Void, which should be under 1k each. I need somewhere between 50 - 65 scenes, since I want the book to end up between 100 - 120k.

Now it’s just a matter of tying all the threads together. I’ve got a couple of unknown factors, too, which isn’t helping much. Well. Not unknown so much as … I know their attitudes and that they’ll get involved in the book, but I’m not sure how they’re going to get involved, or what happens when they do. *sigh*

Granted, this is normal for me. The actual plotting doesn’t usually take more than a couple days, but my mind ends up in, like, hypedrive while I’m banging away at it.

As I’ve been working on this for the past three and a half hours, I’m taking a fuckin’ break.

Random update

Meh. I hadn’t meant for it to be so long between updates. Just been somewhat busy recently, with writing, Evo, and everything. (BTW–for those who might be interested, I’m running Fighting the Blank Screen Blues, a workshop on combating writer’s block, this week over at Evolution.)

I’ve been pretty busy this week, especially. Stronger’s been giving me royal fits. Mainly because Eric doesn’t want to cooperate, and I really need to have his character fleshed out more before I start the actual rewrite. He’s the weakest link, and I hate having underdeveloped antagonists. Too many authors, especially in the fantasy genre, resort to cliches and easy answers. I like my characters realistic and complex.

About four or so days ago, I started thinking about it, because EvoLunacy starts on August 1st, and I’m so not ready with Stronger. On the other hand, I had To Weather the Storm partially plotted.

Okay, I had the rough premise and a couple character bios. That said, it wasn’t giving me nearly as much fits as Stronger.

So, the rewrite is on the backburner for the moment, with Eric tied up and gagged in the closet, and I’m working on To Weather the Storm. I’ve been working hard on worldbuilding, character development, and plotting, and I’m really liking what I’ve come up with. It’s definitely expanded in both scope and complexity–but that’s the whole point of the work I’ve been doing. What’s the point of writing a simplistic novel?

At this point, I’ve got enough material for one book, certainly, with threads leading into another, and I might could get a third out of it. (That being said, I’m planning on wrapping up what I can in one book, just with threads I could pick up on should it sell.

I hadn’t really wanted to do this… I’d planned on waiting and doing the prewriting along with Above and Beyond, the advanced novel-writing class I’ll be teaching over at Evolution come September. *shrugs* I guess I’ll go back and work on Shadow’s Blade alongside that, and go back to Stronger as soon as I’ve got To Weather the Storm finished. (Which should be within three months, given Stronger is roughly that length and it took me about four months to complete that.)

Anyhoo. Getting sleepy here. See y’all later.

Hit goal!

Serrau’s CharBio
1066 / 1000 (106.60%)

Took me three frickin’ days, but I hit 1k … and I’m still not finished with the bio. >_really liking. As in, “Dammit! I want one!” like. (And no, Morgan, that’s not just because he’s felinoid. :P)

… and, of course, I would get an idea for a story for MuseMuggers … pirates, lady mages in towers, sex, destruction of the world … hoo boy. My mind seems to be on overdrive recently. And I’m lovin’ every minute of it. *grins*

Wheee!

Serrau’s CharBio
468 / 1000 (46.80%)

Almost at the halfway point … ended up in a fairly heavy discussion with one of my sisters earlier resulting in much thought, so I didn’t quite get as much done as I would’ve liked.

That said … I’m feeling very good about it all. I’ve been making progress, which is more than I can say for the past several months. I’ve been feeling better physically, as well, which I am very glad for. So … hopefully it’ll stay this way. Because I’m sick of feeling like shit.