Another Sunday, another ROW80 check-in! I’m currently lamenting the weather for this year’s Memorial Day Weekend: blue skies, sun… and winds up to 45 MPH. We’ve been under a severe wind advisory for days now, and it’s such a downer, because the weather would be perfect for the beach otherwise. As it is, I have to stay shut up inside because the wind is wreaking havoc with my allergies.
But let’s talk writing! I finally broke through the block that was holding me back with that coronation scene (well, to be honest, I abandoned it, though it’s mostly finished) and sketched out the next four scenes. I’m working with the wide paintbrush at the moment (or, to return to last Wednesday’s analogy, my machete) and aiming for getting the main points of each scene onto paper: dialogue, action and movement, and other “big” developments. I’ve found that working on the finer points, like sensory details and description, take more time than I actually want to spend, so I am going to set those aside and fill in the blanks when I return for edits.
The current manuscript stands at 15,529 words, which means that I’ve written something like 5,000 words since Wednesday. I’m really over-the-moon with this, though I know my output will probably slow down over the next couple of weeks, between the final papers I will have to grade, and the traveling I will be doing to my parents’ place and back.
However, I have the first “Act” of the book outlined. It will be 5 chapters long, and traces the beginning of Liandre’s journey from the comfort and safety of the “Ordinary World” to the start of her adventure in Peridion. As I move forward, I am going to have to give plenty of thought to the development of Liandre as a character. She is going to have a lot of hard truths to adjust to — the truth of her parentage, being forced to abandon everything that she knows and loves in order to return to the land of her birth — and I want to make sure that she responds to these changes in a way that feels realistic.
But those are concerns for another day! I will spend this Sunday grading (blech) and luxuriating in the wonderful feeling of reaching 15k. And, er, I’m not going to think about the new story idea that won’t leave me alone… or the fact that I’ve given it a title, and a cast of characters, or the fact that I know exactly who the murderer is going to be. We’ll see how strong my willpower is, lol.
Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone!
May 29, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Dropping in from row80 and kait’s. Yeah for breaking through the block. I’m battling that right now. Good luck with tuning out the new story and characters. They can be quite adamant sometimes. 🙂
May 30, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Congrads on the progress this week.
I like to keep several works in progress in my pile. It helps me for when I get stuck on the one I am working on, I can pick up something else instead.
They do say that down time on a work in progress can be as important as the progress itself. It allows the story line to bouce around inside our head until it finds the right pieces.
Good luck with your progress for the week.
May 31, 2011 at 10:53 am
It sounds like you’re doing great! That’s a good word count…5,000 since Wednesday. Keep up the good work!