feuervogel | Entries tagged with writing: space germans: seven: revolutio

+1023, 39695/90000

You may notice that this is fewer words than I had yesterday. I decided to completely redo the refinery scene, which meant scrapping 1600 words. I was able to reuse ~300 of them, but I'm still net negative for the day.

But that's OK. I'll get more later.

Also, I got the revision notes for my story. Some of them are very much, "you know, that's a good point," and some have the additional "...but can I do that?" Good editor, this. This is going to be a much better story at the end. (Also possibly reaching into novella territory. Novelette? 7500+, whatever that is.) I just need to get them back by May 20.

(And I have 2 prompts to write for springkink, one due 5/5 that I haven't even started yet, erk.)

Current Mood: busy

+820, 40265/90000

So, I need to figure out how 50-odd (?) miners & refinery workers will take over the plant, which has 30+ armed guards on it. I could reduce the number of guards and give them better odds, I suppose. The guards are just going to get reinforcements later anyway.

I should probably draw a map of the place...

Current Mood: sleepy

+1050, 39445/90000

This is the first POV scene with Sher. I need to have a few of those earlier. That's what revisions are for.

Current Mood: sleepy

+930, 38395/90000.

I may be on target for a rough draft of 60000 words. We'll see.

Also, my writing group met in a new place called Straw Valley Cafe, which is this sprawling cluster of buildings that used to be artists studios. It's pretty neat.

Current Mood: sleepy

+1550(!) 37465/90000

Now the subplots are coming together all at once, and there is excrement on the fan. But it's not at its worst yet!

+970, 35915/90000

The shit is about to hit the fan. ... I'm going to have to pad this out a lot. I'm about 2/3-3/4 of the way through the plot and just under 40% of the way through the word count. I know I have 6 scenes to go back and fill in, for another 6k or so, then there's the remainder of the plot. I also know I need to add more scenes up to where I am now to add more characterization.

Maybe someday I'll have all this at once.

Current Mood: busy

+1315, 34945/90000

Sahar doesn't like the increased presence of the Sons of Mars on her station.

I may have worked out who the other POV character needs to be, but he won't get very many scenes, I don't think. I'll see how much I get with just her POV.

Current Mood: busy

+1335, 33630/90000

Trying to make up for yesterday's 0 words. Shit's starting to hit the fan on Alpha Centauri Seven, poor folks.

Current Mood: busy

+905, 32295/90000

I started writing early today, hoping I could have 2 sessions, because tomorrow I'm going to be out of the house from ~10 am till 2 or 3 pm, which pretty much fucks up any chance I have of writing. (My writing group is meeting in Carrboro at 10:30, then I have a dr's appointment in north Durham at 1, which should only take 20 minutes, then I'm stopping at Bed Bath & Beyond to pick up blinds for upstairs and new shower curtains.)

So some other day this week, I'll have to have a 2000-word day so my Scrivener-calculated word goal doesn't keep increasing as my self-imposed deadline gets closer.

Though I'm getting to the point of the plot where the actiony bits start, and those write much faster than other parts. And some time I'll need to go back and fill in scenes between the politics, but I want to get that part written first.

+905, 31390/90000

Now I can go start wrangling shit for tomorrow's yard sale...

Current Mood: busy

+895, 30485/90000

Wow, a third of the way through the word count! Soon, very soon, the bottom will fall out and bad things will start happening. Yay, martial law and coup!

+600 29590/90000

I won't have 90000 words by June 30 (the date I've arbitrarily set as my deadline), and that's OK. I fully expect to go back and add a lot of things, like exposition, on the first revision. I just want to have a complete plot by then. The scene list (ie, Scrivener note cards) is up to 41 scenes now, and I expect a lot of the ones toward the end to be broken into more than one. I've got 22 of them at first draft stage, which suggests I'm halfway through. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

Current Mood: sleepy

+885, 28990/90000

We now return to your regularly-scheduled word count.

+345, 28105/90000

Had a bit of a late start today and some damned tinnitus again. It's hard to concentrate with a constant hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin in your ears. Today's was, comparatively, not bad. The days when it's loud and at just the right frequency and I want to stab myself in the ears to make it stop are pretty terrible. It seems to be related to my thyroid levels, frustratingly both hyper- and hypo-. Meh.

+875, 27760/90000

More stuff happens. Slowly.

I haven't quite revised the outline enough yet to make it worth reposting here. Perhaps next week.

+865, 26885/90000

I'm having fun trying to write to a multiple of 5 every day.

Also, I should be getting the revision notes for Something There Is later today or tomorrow. Hooray! (I emailed the publisher asking about them, because revisions are due the 15th according to the contract and I was getting nervous. She said my manuscript was "solid" and probably didn't need extensive revisions. Also that the due date is extended.)

Current Mood: busy

+895, 26020/90000

We have reached the approximate midpoint. I think. Or shortly before it? The reversal hasn't happened yet, but that's just a few scenes away. I'm contemplating posting another revised outline from my current set of Scrivener cards.

+945 25125/90000

Blah blah politics blah

+858, 24173/90000 27% done!

Novelwriting is a daunting task. Revising is also daunting, but in a different way.

Current Mood: busy

+627, 23315/90000

+128, 22688/90000

I had a bit of a migraine today. I took a nap and the worst of it went away, but I still couldn't really focus. Also I get a mild aphasia with migraines, so I get stuck on finding the right word.

Also, I wish I knew where this cat pee smell was coming from. Our blacklight bulb burned out a long while back.

Current Mood: blah

+865, 22560/90000

I swear, once I finish getting the politics part of the plot down, I'm going to go back and add the not-politics parts of the plot. They have to exist, or people will get really bored.

Also, I'm still waiting for the revision/editing notes on the story I sold, which I have to turn in a final draft of by April 15, according to the contract. I begin to fret terribly about that deadline, because I'm a slow reviser, especially if I get vague directions like "add more tension here." I have no idea what the directions will be like; they could be detailed and explicit, I don't know.

Fret fret fret.

Current Mood: busy

+659, 21695/90000

Waiting for the election results.

I really need to stop blowing off writing over the weekend.

Current Mood: busy

+711, 21036/90000.

We're almost to the election.

Current Mood: hot

+739, 20325/90000

So, I think I'm at the point of the plot where I should be around 35-40,000 words, just before the midpoint. As you can see, I'm only about halfway there. But I know I have a lot of scenes to write where the characters get development and do things other than go to meetings and talk about politics. I also have to add exposition and description, because these things don't come naturally to me.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I'm not a visual person at all. I don't know what my characters look like, I can't describe their faces. So all of that stuff gets added in revisions. It's kind of a tedious way of doing things, but it works (for me, for now).

Current Mood: accomplished

+765, 19586/90000

Politics! No-confidence votes!

Current Mood: accomplished

+730, 18821/90000

I actually wrote a good bit more than 730 words today, because I deleted a few hundred of Friday's words because they didn't really work properly.