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There was a little bit there (a week?) when my writing flagged somewhat and I was worried that I was losing interest in the book, despite every attempt not to do that this time. To my pleasure and surprise, I've now swung back to the other end of the spectrum. I am totally engrossed by my novel and loving it. I'm back to writing a strong 1.5k words each day, typing a good 1k each day (the difference there explains why the typed draft gets further and further behind), and thinking about the novel constantly and with great pleasure. All of which means that this entire entry is dedicated to blather on the working novel. My apologies.
I just finished reading Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely (review forthcoming ... I have so many of those to catch up on, once again) and I watched the film The 13th Warrior. The former, especially when combined with the fact that I read Marr's LiveJournal (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
melissa_writing) gave me that much needed sense of "I can do this." That why writing is a skill, it is not magic. Not everyone can do it well, but authors are still human, writing is still work. And that much, at least, is accessible—yes, even to me. And that renewed my interest and dedication. The latter, which draws on Norse culture, had a few little atmospheric and informational tidbits that made me want to spread along to the final third of the book, and so it renewed my passion as well.
It's been interesting to see, as the book develops, the location and the culture/atmosphere of the book develop. The setting is based loosely on the Pacific North-West, the world is based loosely on Pre-Christian Celtic lands, in particular Scotland. I chose the Pacific NW for setting because I live here—and so I understand the what and why of the land layout, weather systems, etc. I need a river, some farmlands, at least one mountain range, and a cold north in the story, and I get bonus points for a nearby sea—so this territory adapted itself well. It also means that I know why the farmland is fertile, and why the royal city is a port city. This allows me to add some realism to the book without tying up too much of my time in research.
The culture and overall world is based on the ancient Celts because I've studied them—which the intention of following the religions therein, which provides a lot of relevant information for the story. The days of power follow Celtic holy days, it explains the major presence and roles of the fey... Although the book takes place in a very different world from our own, and also fairly different from the world in ancient Celtic myth, that sort of basis provides a wealth of ideas and makes it a bit easier for me to figure out how all of the competing powers and roles interact. And since I just worked in a bit of Norse influence, well—that aspect is really knitting together.
On reread, it's occurred to me that that above paragraph may not make one word of sense to any one—and still might not make sense if the book is ever published. Ah, oh well. My journal. My rambling place. And trust me—it makes sense to the author.
I would like to note that the major downfall to all of this productivity is that my back hurts. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. It hurts to lay down, hurts to type, hurts to bend over, hurts to lean back, hurts to walk. It just hurts.
Oh! I also finally got around to my first major character name. I have this bad habit of 1) not naming characters (so that they're called NAME and OTHER NAME in the draft) and 2) using my working titles for final titles ... which is why my website is "Title Here" and this journal is "Working Title."
The character I finally named is the protag's mentor, a practicing and learned witch that I've been referring to as, um, OTHER NAME. And since ON starts with an O—I looked for O names in my baby name index of choice. There are blessedly few O names, and surprisingly many of them are lovely. I picked Orane, for the O beginning, for the sound, and because the name (French, with Latin root) means "sunrise." The setting and rising of the sun and moon is a major part of character construction, timing, and themes in the book, so this was a really lucky find. I'm pleased with it.
And I lost about 204 words when I transitioned from OTHER NAME to Orane. Yes, the book is that long.
Speaking of wordcounts...
Wordcount: 62,717 typed (250 pages), +7.8k handwritten.
Previous Accomplishments: Catching up to more and more already-written section; by handwritten text, protag has moved onto second third and is now in royal city; by total written length, the first draft is about half done! I am so excited about all of this. Also, named one of the major characters, finally.
Upcoming Challenges: Have a lot of typing to catch up on and the next section takes place in the royal court. May need to do some research on court etiquette to make it seem the smallest bit realistic. Still need names for protag and vampire.
Currently Reading: The Call of Cthulhu & Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft; Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein.
I just finished reading Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely (review forthcoming ... I have so many of those to catch up on, once again) and I watched the film The 13th Warrior. The former, especially when combined with the fact that I read Marr's LiveJournal (
melissa_writing) gave me that much needed sense of "I can do this." That why writing is a skill, it is not magic. Not everyone can do it well, but authors are still human, writing is still work. And that much, at least, is accessible—yes, even to me. And that renewed my interest and dedication. The latter, which draws on Norse culture, had a few little atmospheric and informational tidbits that made me want to spread along to the final third of the book, and so it renewed my passion as well.It's been interesting to see, as the book develops, the location and the culture/atmosphere of the book develop. The setting is based loosely on the Pacific North-West, the world is based loosely on Pre-Christian Celtic lands, in particular Scotland. I chose the Pacific NW for setting because I live here—and so I understand the what and why of the land layout, weather systems, etc. I need a river, some farmlands, at least one mountain range, and a cold north in the story, and I get bonus points for a nearby sea—so this territory adapted itself well. It also means that I know why the farmland is fertile, and why the royal city is a port city. This allows me to add some realism to the book without tying up too much of my time in research.
The culture and overall world is based on the ancient Celts because I've studied them—which the intention of following the religions therein, which provides a lot of relevant information for the story. The days of power follow Celtic holy days, it explains the major presence and roles of the fey... Although the book takes place in a very different world from our own, and also fairly different from the world in ancient Celtic myth, that sort of basis provides a wealth of ideas and makes it a bit easier for me to figure out how all of the competing powers and roles interact. And since I just worked in a bit of Norse influence, well—that aspect is really knitting together.
On reread, it's occurred to me that that above paragraph may not make one word of sense to any one—and still might not make sense if the book is ever published. Ah, oh well. My journal. My rambling place. And trust me—it makes sense to the author.
I would like to note that the major downfall to all of this productivity is that my back hurts. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. It hurts to lay down, hurts to type, hurts to bend over, hurts to lean back, hurts to walk. It just hurts.
Oh! I also finally got around to my first major character name. I have this bad habit of 1) not naming characters (so that they're called NAME and OTHER NAME in the draft) and 2) using my working titles for final titles ... which is why my website is "Title Here" and this journal is "Working Title."
The character I finally named is the protag's mentor, a practicing and learned witch that I've been referring to as, um, OTHER NAME. And since ON starts with an O—I looked for O names in my baby name index of choice. There are blessedly few O names, and surprisingly many of them are lovely. I picked Orane, for the O beginning, for the sound, and because the name (French, with Latin root) means "sunrise." The setting and rising of the sun and moon is a major part of character construction, timing, and themes in the book, so this was a really lucky find. I'm pleased with it.
And I lost about 204 words when I transitioned from OTHER NAME to Orane. Yes, the book is that long.
Speaking of wordcounts...
Wordcount: 62,717 typed (250 pages), +7.8k handwritten.
Previous Accomplishments: Catching up to more and more already-written section; by handwritten text, protag has moved onto second third and is now in royal city; by total written length, the first draft is about half done! I am so excited about all of this. Also, named one of the major characters, finally.
Upcoming Challenges: Have a lot of typing to catch up on and the next section takes place in the royal court. May need to do some research on court etiquette to make it seem the smallest bit realistic. Still need names for protag and vampire.
Currently Reading: The Call of Cthulhu & Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft; Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein.
