In a nutshell my week went: broken washing machine, need new tyres, sleep, curry, walkies, golf, tyres not avaliable please try again in a few weeks, realizing I messed up my cottage booking... sort of, new friends, wolves! ruins, walkies, writing, writing is hard...
Overall its been a good week. I got out and about, in the rain, alot, and wrote odd bits here and there, fleshed out some characters and filled some plot holes, and yesterday I was totally in the zone and wrote pretty much all day!
Yarp, all day!!! I started at 10am (er... it still counts as all day!) and stopped at 1.30pm. Went out for a 4 mile walk, which I think was really 2 miles but my runkeeper app was on the fritz, ate and started again at 2.30pm ish, and didn't stop until gone 7pm! Awesome! I wrote two chapters... 5,229 words... wowzer. Writing is tough! I was knackered by the end, but pleased with what I put down. I introduced a new character (new to the story, but planned) and I'm heading into the middle, the crux, of my story. I think this is why it took so long. Everything I write now has consequences for the length and direction of the story.
Its kinda awkward to write in many ways, as this is what I hope is the first of a series of books. That means really its just an introduction, the characters, the world, and I guess most importantly to the style in which I write.
So I'm on chapter 12-13 at the moment, although I'm expecting them to get pushed through to 14-15 because I think I need an extra one or two stuck in. I'm aiming for 30 to 35 chapters; 100,000 to 115,000 words. Pretty much all of the characters are in now, either described or alluded to. I think I've set the scene, old town full of nice fantastical things. The trick now is to get these characters from where they currently are, to where I need them to be for the big finish! Not easy... although I'm pretty much there.
Its like fitting together a jigsaw puzzle, but with no picture and only one corner. Plus, just as you think you are making progress, you lift up the box to find a couple of new pieces which make your current picture all wrong! Sometimes I write and I'm thinking, "nooo don't do that! Why are you doing that???" screaming at a character who apparently is taking on a life of his or her own. But thankfully I'm not the only one :)
Check out this nice piece about two fantasy writers (George RR Martin and Robin Hobb) discussing their works. Little Ben put this on to me, and its really interesting. I can relate to some of the things they are saying, so I must be on the right lines :) http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/purple-socks#s8yj2
So today I have two goals: Finish the third chapter which I started yesterday (by started I mean wrote down some key words), and not look at what I wrote yesterday! I think the second one will be more of a challenge. Monday is more writing time - sit down and try and get down some more chapters.
But its all good. Enjoyable :) Take care all o/
p.s. I'm always on the hunt for names, so if you have any good ones, familiar sounding names which could be historical or fantastical, please drop them in the comments :)
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