Recently, I’ve decided to dive into reading two lengthy, in-depth fictional series at once for my leisure reading: The Wheel of Time and The Horus Heresy. About 3.5 books into these series, I’ve managed to stay focused on the wider story arcs of each while alternating between them. And so far, I am astounded at how brilliantly these two series are written, and how differently from each other. Continue reading “The Story of 1,000 Stories: Piecing Together the Narrative Puzzle”
Tag: creativity sessions
Creativity Sessions: The Minutiae of Characterization
People are weird.
I don’t mean in the cynical I-don’t-want-to-engage-with-anyone way. I mean in the myriad ways in which we generally conduct ourselves; our ticks, habits, vocal cadence, personality quirks, the way we laugh.
Think about your closest three or four friends; the people whom you (hopefully) trust and know intimately. Don’t they each have a distinct laugh, whether the high-pitched titter or the soulful bellow? And, not one of them speaks in exactly the same manner, with the exact same inflection or vocabulary. Kind of weird, right? Continue reading “Creativity Sessions: The Minutiae of Characterization”
Finding a Stopping Point… and holding on for dear life
I’m one of those people who never feels totally satisfied with a written work. There is always a different idea, or a new line, or a twist to the rhyme scheme that I could have/should have made. That’s why I re-read my own writing as little as possible once it has been “finished” — or posted here. Continue reading “Finding a Stopping Point… and holding on for dear life”
Shit, is November Nearly Over Already?
Welp, November ends on Sunday, as does NaNoWriMo 2014. I have 26,636 words written, and I know I will not be reaching 50,000 by the end of the month. Remember when I said I wanted to hit 35k last week? Same. Such is life. Continue reading “Shit, is November Nearly Over Already?”
NaShoStoWriMo Week 2 Complete – with unexpected word count!
Well, week two of NaShoStoWriMo (my version of NaNoWriMo, but with short stories) is complete and I met my goal. I have 10 short stories written so far. Because a lot of NaNoWriMo revolves around word count, I felt compelled to tally up my word count so far for the 10 stories and…wait for it…16,438 words! Holy Toledo! I really didn’t expect it to be that high already. Some of my stories are under 1000 words, but most are in the 1000 – 2500 word range. One behemoth is 3200 words.
Continue reading “NaShoStoWriMo Week 2 Complete – with unexpected word count!”
Smooth Like Butter… and just as Thick
Week two of NaNoWriMo is in the books, and I made decent progress. 17,477 words as of yesterday. So yes, I did slow down considerably from the roaring first week numbers I put up. If you were in a fantasy league for writers, the talking heads would tell you to be cautious about my lack of performance in Week 2. You would have been crazy to think that he could sustain the type of production we saw in his first game week in and week out. The 10,000 words I churned out in week one solidified into butter, and the progress has obviously been slower.
The Slow-Burn Exposition
It turns out the detailed character building I touched on last week can slow down the progress of the overall story arc. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I’ve found the slower pace of detailing various characters a great avenue for further exposition, especially for the first couple of chapters of my story. I think the trick is to know when to add a kick to your step to move the story forward. I’m still trying to figure that out, but at least I know that I should speed up the pace soon. Here’s hoping my protagonists get their feet moving soon.
According to NaNo’s daily word count tracker, I am behind the curve, something that NaNo veterans vehemently encourage against in the forums. However, I will rededicate my time to writing this week. New goal for week three: 38,000 words. Cheers.
Steve D
Creativity Sessions: The Little People Matter, Too
We are one week into NaNoWriMo. As of this moment I have written 10,616 words of my story, which exceeds my initial expectations for this week. When I first signed up for the novel writing contest way back in September, I told myself that achieving 50,000 words in one month was not important; as long as I wrote a substantial amount of my story, I should be satisfied. Even 25,000 words of this story seemed like a fair goal, considering it sat in development limbo for four years prior to November. Continue reading “Creativity Sessions: The Little People Matter, Too”
My Novel Idea: The Trouble with Genre
November officially begins in two days, and for me and a few hundred thousand other writers, November 1 marks the beginning of my first NaNoWriMo journey. I’ve already given a brief overview of what genre hole I’m stuffing my novel’s peg into, but I’d like to go into a little more detail. Continue reading “My Novel Idea: The Trouble with Genre”
My Novel Idea – NaNoWriMo
Writing 50,000 words in the span of one month sounds crazy to me. That means writing, on average, 1,667 words per day, which doesn’t sound daunting, but really is because I have to actually come up with 1,667 things to say every day.
Context? Yes, that might be helpful. Continue reading “My Novel Idea – NaNoWriMo”
Theme for September 23rd – Chastity – and you thought it was simple!
The virtue of temperance has historically encompassed a wide range of activities – after all, it “simply” means moderation via personal restraint or will. Although associated in modern parlance with food and drink, in particular alcohol, last week’s poems decided to look at temperance as it applies to less calorie-laden subjects: in speech and in modifying self-doubt.
Chastity is another virtue that has been reduced to a sound bite in the modern day, but was historically much more complex. Chastity today seems to revolve around sexual activity, and if the news is any indication, contemporary conversations about chastity focus on teenagers and pre-marital sex.
Continue reading “Theme for September 23rd – Chastity – and you thought it was simple!”
Evening Satellite Publishing 