Technical Difficulties

words since last report: 315
words total: 4,094
tyop du jour: n/a
darling: n/a
mean things: Roommates who forget to buy toilet paper.
quirks: The only quirks today were mine.
reason for stopping: There was some retrograde motion today, as I realized that I was trying my favorite trick of introducing a new complication three-quarters of the way through the story. So burning that out and getting back on track is actually not bad as a day's work. Also, time for bed.
exercise: Wii.
work outside the box: Storytellers Unplugged column. That may be it.
the internet is full of things: This is, bar none, the CREEPIEST flash game I have ever seen. (Also a brilliant literalization of the solipsistic fallacy.) I didn't get very far in it, but the experience lingers.

words since last report: 820, plus structural conceptualizing so as to retrofit the plot into the story.
word total: 3275
word goal: cruising for 5-7k
tyop du jour: n/a
darling: Her grip was strong but not painful, and her palm was furry.
mean things: Unwanted attention of the lycanthropic persuasion. Plus, that lecture on Wordsworth has fallout in discussion sections.
quirks: Werewolves are not nice people.
reason for stopping: Time to start going to bed. (Yes, it is a lengthy process.)
exercise: Wii, for the first time since we left for Minneapolis. The worst thing was the excruciating foot cramps.
work outside the box: The which with the who?
feline assistance: Catzilla has spent much of the day sleeping behind the aquarium.
the internet is full of things: Bear has good advice for aspiring writers.

The Marriage of True Minds, Part 3 (of 10): 900 words
Running total: 6,000 words
Comments:This section may get longer, if it turns out there's more Traumatic Backstory to exposit. My protagonist consoles himself with the excellent beer I've invented for him to drink.

This is distinctly going to be a novella or a very short novel. And, no, I have no idea what I'll do with it when it's done. But if it isn't broken any longer--or at least not as badly broken--that'll be a damn good start. It's certainly going to be a very different story.

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[Per my interlocutor's request, I've cleaned up the English of these questions--let me say right here that I am both awed by and very grateful for my readers who are not native English speakers. That's going the extra mile for a story, and I appreciate it.]

Q: You had the idea in your head for 15 years, does that mean you had it written for that long and just couldn't get a publisher to take it? Or did it take that long to work the idea out in your head?

A: I started writing Mélusine in very late 1993/early 1994. I finished the draft that actually sold to Ace in early 2003--and it was bought in October '03. It took me ten years, in other words, to become a competent enough writer to tell the story I was trying to tell. And of course, during those same ten years, I was getting my B.A., my M.A., and my Ph.D., getting married, all those other growing up type things.

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Q: ( spoilers for The Mirador )

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Q: ( spoilers for Melusine and everything thereafter )

Q: Would you say that Cymellune is more equivalent to Atlantis, the Minoan Empire, or the Roman Empire?

A: I like this question.

Cymellune of the Waters is a lot Atlantis and a little bit Venice and maybe a smidgen of Sodom & Gomorrah. The labyrinths thing, yes, loops over to Minoan Crete, and there's a good deal of the Byzantine Empire in some places, and certainly the way Marathat and Tibernia relate to it is a lot like the way later nations related to the Roman Empire.

In other words, yes.

(As a bonus answer, the fall of the empire of Lucrèce is the fall of Troy, only I reversed things so it's the Trojans bringing the Achaians down.)

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Q: Do you "outlining" your books? If so, what does that entail? A thesis-like outline (I. 1. a. i. that sort of thing) or is your method more organic? When do you consider an outline "finished" and do you then feel the book is ready to begin, or do you revise the outline?

A: No, I don't outline my books--at least, not before I write them. Part of my revision process is doing what's called a reverse outline, where you take a finished piece of writing and make an outline of what you've written. Incredibly helpful in both fiction and non-fiction for catching redundancy and continuity gaps.

I may sometimes know things about where a story is going, and I certainly do write those things down. (Because otherwise I will forget them, and nothing drives me more bonkers than knowing there's something I used to know about a story that I am now completely unable to dredge up out of the murk.)

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The Marriage of True Minds, Part 1 (of 10): 2,000 words

This story is the exception to the rule I claimed above, as I'm using the International Spy Museum's version of the Moscow Rules (from a postcard matociquala has on her fridge) to structure it. So it has ten parts, and in each of the ten parts, I know roughly what happens. In a structural sense, anyway. The actual plot is still largely a mystery. I don't know if this is going to work, but the previous version of the story most certainly does NOT, so it can't hurt anything to experiment. Also, I am writing again for the first time since I turned in Corambis, and it does, in fact, feel pretty darn good.

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jaylake said two important things on Monday: "writing a book is like exercising — it feels terrific when I’m doing it, but vaguely intimidating and overwhelming when I’m not doing it" and "the best cure for writing angst is writing." With the new flat panel, I can't use my monitor as a bulletin board any longer, but if I could, you bet those would be going up.

Chapter 17: 10,218 words

Summerdown, thus far: 147,926 words

What remains is dénouement and the part where I end this entire four book monstrosity. And then I get to go back and fix everything that's currently broken and put in actual words everywhere I've got [blank].

It may be a Frankenstein's monster of a draft, but a draft I will have by August first.

You may, as jaylake says, continue shopping. No need to return to your homes.

525 words. AKA the first scene of the climax. Tomorrow I get into the meat of the thing.

Also a lot of stupid flash games.

714 words.

Like being covered in BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.

(I can quote Eddie Izzard, even if Felix can't.)

On the other hand, tonight, for the first time, I feel like I actually can complete a draft of this book by August first. Which is a very encouraging thought.

625 words

Between the Boring Health Problems and the Not Boring But Knotty Plot Problems, 625 is actually doing pretty well. I may have to smooth out this nuntius ex machina* on the second pass, but that's okay. Writing is not a performance art.

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*messenger from the machine

2,132 words.

Where do Felix and Mildmay find these conversations?

o.O

ETA: on the other hand, this is--or should be--one of the great strengths of writing series fantasy. By the time you get to book three or four, your characters should know each other well enough that they can have conversations that deal with subjects other than Saving The World or Star-Crossed Angst.

... okay, yes, if I was writing The Wheel of Time, it would look COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

1,421 words.

I cannot get the plot to move FORWARD. ARGH.