feuervogel | Entries tagged with writing: space germans: iron and rust: r

Well, I didn't move on to the next scene as I'd planned. I spent a little time on the scene I worked on yesterday, then cleaned the guest bathroom because we're having company tomorrow night and I won't want to clean it when I get back from class tonight.

+156, 83,104, 51 days left.

+289, 82948, 52 days left.

I'm going to lose Friday this week, since I'll be traveling to Atlanta for Outlantacon/Gaylaxicon, so it's good that I've written twice what the little ticker bar tells me I have to write to reach my word goal in the appointed time (140 words) both yesterday and today.

I still haven't figured out what to do in the second scene in this chapter. There's a scene later on that doesn't make sense where it is, so I could move that up here and put something else in its place. That may end up being what I do.

I'll decide tomorrow.

I also finally have an electronic version of the timeline as a g spreadsheet, so I don't have to go, er, how many days was that again? And I know when things happen in relation to each other, which is useful.

Current Mood: busy

+278, 82659, 53 days left.

I've reached the end of Azar's second chapter, which is chapter five. It's rolling along nicely, I guess. The next chapter of hers I have one scene and one "??" I guess I need to figure out what to put in there. I still don't have any idea. I guess I could save it for filling in some blanks?

Dunno.

Current Mood: busy

+248, 82,381, 56 days left.

Azar's scenes are more complete than I'd thought, but I'm still finding plenty of description and thoughts to add in. Especially the placeholders like "She walked down the street and saw XYZ."

I do think I'm going to try writing a full(ish) outline/synopsis for the next novel and see if that helps streamline the process. I know you usually have to do multiple revisions, but I'm on the second round at the moment, and I still don't have a first draft. (I define a first draft as something I *could* submit for publication if I were foolhardy. It has to be complete and approximating the standard word count for its subgenre. I still haven't hit that threshold, and it's in no way "complete.")

Current Mood: accomplished

Not so great today. +119, 82,133, 57 days left.

I worked on the second scene from yesterday, and I'm going to need to get really into Azar's head for the next one. I'm feeling a bit out of it today, disjointed & distracted maybe?, so that'll wait. Tomorrow after I get my blood drawn, I'm planning to get some breakfast & hang out in the coffee shop some. That can help, sometimes.

Of course, so can a bit of sleep, and I'm still on a deficit from being sick last week. I have trouble sleeping when I have a cold, because I can't breathe right, I'm hot and cold, and my throat is all sore and dry. Which kinda sucks. Combine that with my inability to sleep past about 6:30 am, like, EVER, and you end up with a tired C.

Current Mood: sleepy

Today I revisited the scene I revised yesterday and fleshed it out another 140 words, then moved on to the next one. I'm not sure I like where it ends at the moment; it's sort of cliffhangery but not in a good way. I may expand on it some tomorrow.

+276, 82,104, 58 days left.

Azar took two deep breaths and gave Bashir her shoulder. They started walking again. Down to the end of this street, then right. Less than half a kilometer. You can do it. Bashir was average height, but he was still ten centimeters taller than she, and fifteen kilos heavier. The further they went, the more weight he put on her. The icy terror of certainty that her husband had been arrested put her feet one in front of the other.

So, back to the beginning, this time with Azar. +252, 81.738, 59 days left.

I'll do an excerpt, because I haven't in a while. I figure anything past the middle would be too spoilery to post.

Finally she saw a familiar figure in dusty orange among the crowd, her grey hair standing out in a sea of black. Azar waved, and her mother turned toward her. She embraced her mother and kissed her cheeks.

“Are you here alone?”

Azar shook her head. “Ayman said he would come after he dropped Zaynab off at his parents’. They’re going to watch the broadcast on their vid at home, so they’re taking care of her and Amal. Where’s Dad?”

Sahar laughed. “He had some business to attend to at the tea house. He’ll be here later.”

Azar looked around. There was no one within hearing distance. “That would be a better use of the day than coming here,” she said quietly. “We’re not likely to get anything but doggerel poetry and a patchwork of recycled slogans.” She and her comrades in the resistance had some recycled slogans of their own. This celebration of an injustice was a good time to make a stand. She prayed it wouldn’t be as disastrous as the last protests.

“Twenty-five years,” Sahar murmured. “I can hardly believe it’s been that long.” Her hand went to the scar on her temple, the permanent reminder that she’d fought against the coup and risked her life for her beliefs.

Azar was just carrying on the family tradition.

Current Mood: busy

Since I'm going to be at a CE all day tomorrow (have to maintain my RPh, even though I've had jack and shit in the way of work in over a YEAR), I thought I'd get some revisions in today, because I just had the one scene left from Atesh's POV. And I finished it.

+319, 81,486, 61 days left. Two POV characters' arcs left to revise. One month for each.

I don't know whether the 5-year-old is realistic in this scene (she's Azar's daughter, and Atesh's, uh, 1st cousin once removed? or something), because kids are Not My Thing. She's curious and asks questions that aren't exactly polite. I'd rather not post the excerpt in question because SPOILERS. I don't recall my first reader having any comments on that, so it may be fine. I'll ask whoever my next round of readers are to let me know on that part, I guess.

Current Mood: accomplished

+269, 81,167, 63 days left.

I only have one more Atesh POV scene to revise, then it's back to the beginning. I think I'll do Azar's next.

I'd wanted to get through Atesh's final scene, but my progress was derailed by having to spend some time working on the very vaguely defined "rough draft of what [I] want to organize for the con." The emails I sent asking for clarification/guidance are unanswered. One I sent April 19. Frustrated is an understatement. Now I've sent a THIRD email, and if that doesn't get an answer, I'm just going to take this bullet list I made up and go with it.

If he says, "That's not what I was looking for," well, I sent you two private emails and one to the whole list. You could have responded.

I strongly dislike being given a vague statement (the above is verbatim) and not having requests for guidance and/or clarification answered. You can thank JJ, my residency advisor, for that.

Current Mood: annoyed

+446, 80,898, and I'm going to go take a nap. This cold I got from Ben is kicking my ass.

Current Mood: sick

Today, in a fit of ambition, I edited THREE scenes. One average, one short, and one really fucking long, about 4600 words all told. And this with vague throat itchiness, a stuffy nose, and a mild headache. Whatever Ben had last week, he seems to have given to me. Booger.

+346, 80,452, 65 days left. If I can get to 82k by the time I finish editing Atesh's POV, that will be awesome. I still have Azar's and Hikaru's sections to edit. I've added close to 7,000 words since I started this round of revisions barely two months ago (!), and if this keeps up, I'll easily approach 100k, which is an acceptable size for a novel of this type. Rawk.

Current Mood: accomplished

I broke 80,000 today! +246, 80,106, 66 days left.

I feel like I can do this, y'all. I'd like to get through more than one scene a day, but now I'm getting to the longer scenes where a lot of stuff happens, so it's harder. Or I'm just justifying my laziness. Whatever.

I should be able to get more work done the rest of this week. Tuesdays always throw me off, since I exercise in the morning, and that wreaks havoc on my schedule.

Current Mood: busy

+283, 79860, 67 days left.

I've gotten to the action part, and I'm still managing to flesh it out. Which is good, because draft 0.9.5 is very much a skeleton in many places. Though I'm coming to a part that I know I have to exposit more in, but I don't want to get too boring or maudlin.

Anyway, time for dinner.

Current Mood: accomplished

+205, 79.577, 70 days left.

And I can't do math, guise; I only have 10.500 words left, not 20.500. That's rather more doable, I'd say...

+183, 79,372. 71 days left.

We've reached the part where the action begins. I can probably add in more description and exposition, but not much in the way of reflection, because Atesh isn't going to wax philosophical about the guy swinging a diamond-tipped chainsaw his way. (Which isn't this scene, but we'll get there.)

Today, I edited TWO scenes. How novel!

+481, 79,189, 72 days left. I've added about 2000 words since I started this round of edits, and I only have about 21000 left to add. OMG HOW AM I GOING TO DO THAT?

I swear, next time I write a novel, I'm going to plan shit out so I don't have to make my first round of revisions fixing the plot.

Current Mood: accomplished

Today: +180, 78,708, 73 days left.

We have a heartfelt exchange between cousins on bravery and some (hopefully not too trite) platitudes.

She looked down toward the bed, then into his eyes. “Who should I trust?”

“Yourself. Your training. Your comrades. Us. Remember what we taught you today, and run away if you need to, to survive.” He laid his hand on her shoulder, hoping to offer her support. She reminded him of his sister, if his sister had been raised fighting her whole life. “Let me tell you something a wise man told me: Fear keeps you alive, if you don’t let it paralyze you. Use it to your advantage.” It could be applied to a variety of situations.

She looked at him, eyebrows drawn together in thought. “To my advantage?”

“To me, it means that I can’t go in overconfident, because that means I’ll screw up. History is full of tales of battles lost by men who were completely sure they’d win them when they started out that day. At the same time, I can’t go in thinking it’s hopeless. I have to find the balance.”

Current Mood: busy

Today: +162, 78,528. 74 days left.

Only 12 more scenes from Atesh's POV before I go back to the beginning and work through Azar or Hikaru's scenes, then go back and do the other's. I think I'll do the two one-scene-POV-characters' scenes before I go back to the beginning, though.

I'm probably going to have to put in some weekend writing soon, because I'm going to Atlanta for Gaylaxicon in May, and I'll lose a day to that, and I have a CE in the beginning of May, which I'll lose a day to as well. And, besides, it never hurts to be ahead ANYWAY, especially if you're a lazy slug like me.

Current Mood: artistic

The next scene with Atesh's POV is a chapter after the one I worked on yesterday. So it's fun to be like, hey, plot happened...right.

+198 words, 78,366 total, 77 days left. Hopefully the increase in my thyroid meds (alternating half and whole tablets) will help me focus so I can get through more than one scene at a go.

Current Mood: sleepy

I had a bit of a poor day today. Still can't focus worth a damn, and I don't want to risk giving myself a migraine with a nice cup of green tea, so I just have to soldier through.

I got 126 more words on the scene I wasn't happy with the ending of yesterday, for a total of 78,168. 78 days left.

I hope my doctor is OK with dosing tricks. I can't really deal with this regression.

Current Mood: hungry

Today we have a net +256 and a total of 78,042. I've almost gotten back to where I was a few days ago, before I found the scene that I'd meant to delete. I removed/rearranged the repeated descriptive passages and added some more exposition.

I need to work on the ending of this scene, because it's a little vague. I'll try that tomorrow when hopefully I'm not feeling quite so off. I feel like there's something I'm forgetting I need to do tomorrow.

I should go start washing salad greens and chopping veg so we can eat before I have to leave for class.

Today I discovered that a scene I'd marked for deletion was still included in the manuscript, so I lost 930 words. But I was able to salvage some of it (about 350 words). With that and the revisions, I had a word count of +591, but am still negative since yesterday on the total word count, at 77786.

I've also found some repeated descriptions, which I'll have to cut out or move and integrate into earlier scenes. Or make different enough that it doesn't matter.

I had to get my writing in this morning, because there was a Hertha match this afternoon. Stats: +428 for 78,127 total. 81 days left.

Tomorrow I have pilates AND tai chi, and I need to go into town to pay for the class. I'll have to be focused again.

Current Mood: accomplished

I revisited the scene I worked on yesterday and fleshed it out further, adding another 171 words for a total of 77699. I should come up with one more word to make it round, but I don't feel like it.

I got a parking ticket on a poorly-marked no parking zone today. Fuck you, Town of Chapel Hill. See if I ever go eat lunch in your fake-progressive town again. Every public lot was full, and there's so little street parking to begin with, so my $10 sushi lunch turned into $60. Assholes.

I went to the soccer.com warehouse sale (60% off EVERYTHING), and I got a Schweinsteiger/7 jersey for $30, including tax. They're usually $70 (or $100, with customization, but this one was tagged at $70, and I'm not arguing.) I also "liked" them on facebook to get a free shipping voucher (good through mid-July), which means I can save money on the Özil jersey I want. I looked, and they didn't have any on the racks, just lots of Bastis.

Current Mood: annoyed

+264 to 77,528.

Not much happened today, and there are a few sections of this scene I want to revisit tomorrow. Here's a sample.

The vid screen in the launch lounge flickered on, and the donut on a stick of Centauri Seven filled the screen. It looked normal enough, with solar collectors above and below the ring. There was no traffic moving near the station, except for one ship.

Breitmann tapped his fingers on his thigh. “That’s an Atlantic-class personnel carrier cum battle cruiser. I thought they were all decommissioned five years ago.”

“That shows how high on the Martians’ priority list this job is,” Schneider said.

It also gave them a better idea of how many Martians were likely to be on the station. Even if the Sons kept the exact specifications a trade secret, other companies could estimate based on their own ships’ capacities. Atlantics were estimated to carry about a hundred men and their equipment.

As they approached the ring, the pilot shifted the camera to the lower solar panels. They were fried.

“That’s not natural damage,” Atesh said. “It looks like they were burned with wide lasers.”

The pilot zoomed in on the station itself as the docking grapples clanged against the hull. Hedgehog artillery bristled from both ring and hub, as if he were warning them to be careful.

I went back and added in the missing bit I referred to yesterday, then moved on to the next scene. +358 words, total 77,264. 86 days left.

Guise? I might actually make this thing long enough.

Current Mood: accomplished

So today, the ringing in my ears, which I'd thought a biweekly bolus of caffeine was keeping at bay, decided to come back. I don't know if any of you are afflicted with this, but it's really hard to concentrate when there's this high-pitched whine inside your ears.

I managed to get some editing in, though. +167 to 76,906.

I found a comment I'd left on the next scene I'm doing, and it asks if I included what I'm referring to in this draft. I didn't. I guess I should consider putting it back in, eh? There's a few hundred more words for you! To go back and do it now, or to soldier on? I think I'll do it now. Well, tomorrow, or maybe tonight after tai chi, if I'm feeling ambitious.

In the meantime, imagine there's a constant 9000 Hz playing in your ears. That's my life. Thanks, migraines!

Current Mood: busy

Since Friday's 300-word deletion and negative net word count, I've made progress. Net words: +225, total: 76739.

The merchant ship our heroes have taken transport on was boarded by pirates!

The apparent leader of the band demanded their cargo manifest. Luisa showed him on a handheld tablet. Disgust turned his mouth downward. “What self-respecting merchant runs their ship so empty?”

Luisa’s eyebrow twitched downward. “We’ve had a string of bad luck over the last year. That’s not exactly a secret. We can only afford a small amount of cargo at the moment,” Luisa answered. She had agreed not to mention their passengers. They weren’t, strictly speaking, cargo, and wouldn’t be listed on the manifest. “It’s small loads until we have enough credit to buy more.”

The pirate was undeterred. “I see you have refined cobalt and whiskey. We’ll take one barrel of each.”

a. Cutting the parts you revised and seeing your daily word count cut in half.

b. Finding a sentence that you have no idea what it means or what it even relates to.

c. Getting to the end of a scene and realizing it's all either repetition, irrelevant, or breaks continuity, cutting it, and negating the last two days' word count.

Net word count for the day: -152. Total word count 76514. 91 days to go.

Nikolaides shushed them. “Shahin’s about to score.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the screen as Gündogan dribbled up the pitch and passed to Sukur. Shahin was open, and Sukur sent him a long pass right past a pair of defenders. Shahin sent it into the top corner of the net, right past the keeper’s reach, breaking the scoreless draw at the end of overtime and keeping it from going to a penalty shootout. No matter how many times he saw that goal, pride in his home swelled in Atesh’s chest.

Yes, there's football in my space opera. Yes, these players are all named for actual football players. One plays for Germany, one for Turkey, and one is retired (played for Turkey).

At one point this afternoon, I saw my word count hit 76,555. It amused me that I was 111 words from 76,666, so I set that as my target for the day. Achieved, with 297 net words in one scene.

Today, we had a ship nerd nerding about ships.

Atesh inspected a spot on the wall. “A four-hundred-year-old ship isn’t likely to have most of its original parts. How many times have they replaced panels on the hull at Eridani Two? Just think how much more wear one of these ships gets.”

“Good point.” Kaya stopped for a moment and looked past Atesh with amusement in his eyes.

Atesh turned around and saw Breitmann talking to Schneider in the middle of the corridor. From the half-glazed expression on Schneider’s face, Atesh guessed Breitmann was discussing the finer points of interstellar merchant ship construction. “Everybody’s got a hobby,” he said with a laugh.

I also found something I didn't know was there, which could affect other parts of the story. But I don't think it's a plot hole quite yet. We'll see. I'll get through this revision and make puppy eyes at betas to read it and find my plot holes for me, as well as things that don't make sense or need more exposition.