Howdy all,
How goes it? I'm working on the closing third of SpellCrash and hoping to have it finished no later then the end of the first week of March. I'd like to have it done in February, but I'm thinking that 8 1/2 working days is not going to net me 27,000 new words no matter how much I want it to. Turned my proofs in for MythOS last night, so that off my plate. I desperately need to update my website with sample chapters, new bibliography, free short stories, and an updated recommended fiction list. I've also got a novel crit to finish and one huge short story crit to do. I expect some of that to get done this weekend, but mostly not before as I've just had three of my remaining four evenings this week scheduled out from under me. And, of course, some of it's going to get punted to after the finish of the book. What about y'all? What are you working on? Oh, and as per usual, feel free to toss writing questions into the ring here, and I or someone else will take a swing at them.
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11 comments:
"Closing third" has a nice ring.
I'm closing in on what seems to be really truly the 'last 3000 words' of the short story, er, novelette, er, novella. That makes next week Slash and Burn week. Finally something to look forward to...
Slowly savoring ZZ Packer's non-speculative but intensely satisfying short story collection "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere." Yum.
-CJD
Let's see:
1- I started a new short story.
2- I need to keep working on the second novel.
3- I should write up another entry for Fluid Links: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who Novels and Audios.
4- I'm avoiding looking at the critiques of my first novel.
And here are your questions:
How do you sort conflicting critiques? What do you do if one reader thinks something works while another reader thinks it's a major problem?
I am busy/frazzeled with pounding out the prologue and first chapter of my second book, all the while awaiting more pages from my copy editors for final edits on the first one.
Its a little difficult maintaining the "I can fix it later" mindset while writing the initial draft and at the same time, fixing another one in its 3.5 draft. The question of which is the prologue, which is the first chapter, does it matter as much as just getting stuff down can be vexing while having to ponder small word usage...
On the plus side, I came up with a good heist scene.
I'm at the end of the "opening third" :) of my second draft of "Nightlife." Wish it was going faster, but it is what it is. I am having fun because all three members of my love triangle are finally in the same place at the same time and now the sparks can really fly.
CJD, congrats on almost being finished.
Good questions, Michael. That's definitely worth a full post, so it'll probably take me a couple of days to get to it---especially since there are multiple nested answers and different ways of looking at best practice. In the short run, you might take a look at these two posts on owning your work 1, and 2 and see if that gives you some of what you need or adds questions to the list. In either case, feel free to stop back and add or modify the questions so far.
Jonathan, Da, working through different drafts of multiple books or multiple parts of the same book can be a huge headache. You have my sympathies.
Laura, cool. Glad to hear that draft II is moving along. Is that likely to be the beta draft, or is there another round or two to go through first?
Don't know how you keep it all straight, Kelly. But I'm confident you'll meet all of your deadlines and still have time for a WiiFit session or two!
Trying to finish the first draft of my WIP, but I STILL don't know how it ends. I'm ready to throttle my muse, who continues to play hide and seek. Sometimes I can see the benefits of outlining...
here's a question for you. what's your opinion on the writers guild's stance on the voice to text feature on the Kindle 2?
Shawn, I'm inclined to think that the author's guild doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of choice. While at this point the text to speech software isn't anything that anyone is going to really want listen to if it's established that voice to speech isn't it's own right* but is actually just a sub-right of the electronic display rights, then in ten or fifteen or twenty years when you've got voice to speech technology that can simulate any one of a hundred academy award winning actors and everybody wants to do it that way there'll already be a precedent established that cuts the author out of those rights. At the same time, I understand how the current technology makes the author's guild look like a bunch of royal jerks.
*This is exclusive of voice-to-speech or other technologies for the blind or other individuals who can't read text. Those rights are fully protected by ADA and they ought to be. Free translation into a different and appropriate medium for those who can't read due to some physical or mental handicap is something I and every author I know supports. WebMage has actually been broadcast on radio for the blind and I was flat out delighted.
Beth, I'm trying to keep it all straight but success is never guaranteed. I hope your end of the book muse stops being coy soonest.
I'm working on the second to last chapter of Dragon Hostage, rewriting the first chapter, and renting a car to take the kids to Madison. I have subs hassling my three year olds for the rest of the week.
Hey, Kelly, to answer your question, draft three will be the beta draft. The Death Pixies and my "YA writers anonymous" group are critiquing draft two in chapter-chunks as I have them ready, then I'll do one more pass-through based on their comments. I'm hoping, however, that the revisions won't be as extensive as what I'm doing now. Draft two became a whole-new-novel-loosely-inspired-by-draft-one. I'm hoping draft three is just a very imroved version of draft two. :)
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