Showing posts with label WiP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WiP. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2011
First Drafting
Anywho, I'm working on a new book, and I'm really excited about it. TSA is waiting to be critiqued so all I can do is work on this new project. I call it PiP. It's young adult with a slight paranormal twist and is written with dual POVs and in 1st person present tense. Basically it's the complete opposite of TSA.
The main characters are twins, Ellie and Elliot; their lives are destroyed when Elliot gets kidnapped and murdered. Ellie doesn't know how to live without him, and lucky for her Elliot comes back as a ghost -- only he doesn't know he's dead and he doesn't remember what happened to him. Then more boys start going missing and it's up to them to put the pieces together in order to catch the killer before anyone else gets hurt and before Ellie becomes collateral damage.
Yea, it's gonna be intense.
I started it right about the same time NaNo started, and I broke 11,000 words last night. I'm happy, considering I'm not participating in NaNo. Hopefully it'll be at least 60k when it's completely finished, but I have a feeling the 1st draft is only going to be about 40k. I'm a bare bones writer, so I'll have to go back and flush a lot out.
I usually don't make an outline, but a few thousand words in I got completely stumped and couldn't do anything but keep going back over the stuff I'd already written, so I broke down and made a very, very vague outline. It has twelve chapters, but each chapter has 3 parts to it since Ellie and Elliot take turns telling the story. Basically the outline looks like this:
Chapter 1
Ellie @ funeral
Elliot comes home
Ellie tells Elliot the truth
And eventually the little pieces get a tad more descriptive, but for my purposes I just needed to know the absolute basic progression of events. It really helped me for this one, because I'm not really sticking to the outline (I've already changed a handful of things), but it allowed me to see the general story arc without ruining the thrill and surprise of writing a first draft by the seat of my pants (which is usually how it works for me).
If you've been following for any period of time, you know I'm a half-ass outliner. I don't want to know details, but I like to have a vague idea of my story. I like to be able to ignore what little bit of an outline I have and make things up as a go without worrying about how it fits into the story as a whole, but I like having a rough guide to my plot as well. I highly recommend the half-ass method. It's the best of both worlds.
So that's what's up with me. I have 11,000 words of PiP's first draft (I'll share the full title eventually lol) and I couldn't be more thrilled with it. How are things with you? Are you NaNo-ing it up?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Shiny New Project and TSA
In the mean time, I have begun work on what I have dubbed Shiny New Project. About a month or so ago, this boy popped into my head. I don't know where he came from. I didn't know his name or anything about him. I just knew he had a story, and he wanted me to tell it. And this is how he came to me:
"I was ten when the world ended. Well, sort of. My sister Laney was thirteen. She'd remember it better than me, but she never even made it to fifteen. She wasn't the only one."
That little guy had me. He did. but I'd promised myself I wasn't going to work on anything else until TSA was out for crits. And I didn't. So TSA got shipped to my lovelies, and Shiny New Idea became Shiny New Project. I wrote the first chapter (a whole whopping 3 pages) the first night without knowing anything more than those four sentences. Now I know a whole lot more.
This new book is some odd version of a post-apocalyptic/dystopian, and I say odd because the world has literally just ended, and the whole point of the book is the formation of the dystopian society/-ies. It's gonna be so much fun. No supernatural abilities. No paranormal creatures. Just people. Living in a futuristic world that's fallen to pieces around them.
EXCITING.
So, what're all of you fine people up to as of late?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
WIP Wednesday
Edits are very slow. I've been busy reading lots of queries (128 of them yesterday from over the weekend and another day or two from last week) and trying not to fail miserably at Spanish. But I've made a little progress and I'm trying to iron out a few plot details that probably won't matter to most people but I want to have an answer for them nonetheless. So draft 2 is sitting at a whopping almost 3k of all new words. Yea, I told you it was slow going.
In other news, I have an idea that I've been thinking about for a few months now in my head and I can't get it out, but there's no real plot there yet. When I get time I'll see what I can make of it, but it'll be fun and comical and a change of pace if I do it right.
And completely unrelated but not really: please go watch this video of/by Jackson Pearce. I haven't read Sisters Red yet but I really, really want to and this video just confirms Pearce's awesomeness. Better yet, I'll just show it to you. (No excuses now! Hahaha.) Enjoy! And be sure to tell me how things are going for you, whether you're a writer or not! Read any good books lately? I'd love to hear about them!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
WIP Wednesday
I don't have much progress to report on The Sandman's Apprentice other than to say that I've started draft #2. I seem to be basically re-writing it so far. I'll copy a paragraph from the first draft and put it a few lines down to remind me of what's happening at this point in the story and then I just write it all over again. A few things change, the prose gets tightened, and I make it more realistic and flow better.
My chapter breaks are changing. A chunk that was 2,200 words is now 1,200 and is so much cleaner and more realistic. I love turning a great story into an actual book. There's nothing like knowing that what you're working on is (going to be) publishable material.
So that's where I'm at, going a little slower than I'd like. How are things with all of you?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
WIP Wednesday
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
WIP Wednesday and a Blog Award
I mentioned on Friday that I got the Versatile Blogger Award from Amparo Ortiz and Katrina Lantz; both ladies are amazing. Go check them out. :) Thanks so much for thinking of me!!
Like just about every other award, this one has a handful of rules, but I'm not going to follow them. Here they are anyway, haha:
Okay, here are the rules I must follow:
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Teaser Tuesday
So a little info. Taryn and the people she is with are special. The Between is kind of a place and a thing. There is more than one realm in my story. There are three, and they are linked by the Between. In order to get from one realm to the other you must pass through It, but no one can actually live in the Between except for people like Taryn, Nicolai, and Michelangelo.
In this excerpt, Taryn is making her first journey into the Between to the City that Nicolai and Michelangelo are from; it is not the only city in the Between, but it is called the City. Okay, I guess I should probably give it to you now, huh? Alright, fine:
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
WIP Wednesday
The current project, abbreviated TSA, is now 60 words exactly from 25k, which, ya know, kind of really bothers me. I thought about writing a bunch of crap or typing 'blah' repeatedly just to get there. I resisted!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Teaser Tuesday
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Work in Progress Wednesday!
I have 5 chapters all around 3k a piece, and I've got all of two sentences of chapter 6, haha. :) I'm about a 1/4 of the way through the 1st draft now, and I'm hoping to finish it in the next couple of months.
So, if you need a beta or you think you might want to beta for me, I'm going to be looking for one soon, because I need a crit partner or a critique group. Let me know if you're interested. I like YA and MG the most, but I do read some adult. My preferred genre(s) is/are fantasy/scifi/paranormal/supernatural/whatever-you-want-to-call-it but I'll try just about anything. I like mythology, action, romance, sour candy, and long walks on the beach. Oh, wait, I've never even been to the beach, scratch that. hehe.
Alright, I'd stick around but I have to go take a biology final now. *sigh* Hope you all are having good times with your MSs! I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with another double review of the next 2 Percy Jackson books. Have a lovely Cinco de Mayo!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
WiP Wednesday
It's the first draft, but it's coming out so much better than the last one did. I know this is the one I'm going to query, and if all goes well I'll be ready to do that next Spring. This one looks like it'll be about 60k when it's finished so I'm already a quarter of the way through the first draft. The only problem is that I don't have any betas, but I'll cross that bridge when I finish the 1st draft I suppose. Besides, one of my English professor's is an editor and she specializes in children's and YA literature, so I might have her butcher it for me, too. :)
Anyway that's what's up with me and my WiP. How are things with you and yours?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Teaser Tuesday (for the first time in FOREVER)
So anyway, a little more of chapter 1., but first let me fill in the gaps. Taryn told her little brother, Luke, the monsters would get him if he didn't stop pestering her, and, naturally, Luke runs to their mother and Taryn gets chastised. Here ya go:
Lady Gaga was blaring in her headphones when her father appeared beside her. Taryn screamed and threw the book she had been reading at him without thinking. Mr. Jacobson caught it and handed it back to her, laughing. Taryn stared up at him, her hand on her chest and her face pale.
“What is wrong with you? Don’t you ever knock?” She shouted, not taking her eyes from her father’s.
“Well, Taryn, I knocked three times and never heard anything from you. Not a single response. Maybe you should think about turning the music down before you bust something. Speaking of which, I think you may have given your mom a heart attack when you screamed bloody murder.” Her father said, smiling. “Can I talk to you for a second, kiddo?”
“Not if you’re going to give me another lecture about being nice to Luke.” Taryn said with a scowl. Her father cracked a smile and sat down on the edge of her bed.
“Look, I know Lucas can be a handful, and I know your mom and I don’t always say thank you for everything you do around here, but we really do appreciate it.”
“You and mom want to go out tonight, don’t you?” Taryn asked.
“Only if you don’t mind putting Lucas to bed in another hour. If he’s been too much trouble, we can stay in tonight. It’s up to you, sweetheart, if you don’t want to babysit just speak up.” Taryn closed her eyes. Good game, Mom, she thought, send Dad in to get your way. Well played.
“It’s fine,” she sighed, “you guys going to go catch a movie?”
“Yes. We thought we’d go and see what’s new.” Taryn nodded. “Thanks, Taryn,” her father said, “we won’t be gone too long. You know the drill. Lights out for Lucas by eight, and make sure you lock all the doors and leave the porch light on when you go to sleep if we aren’t already back,” her father said.
“Yea, I know the drill. I’ve got everything under control. Have a good night, Dad,” Taryn said.
“Thanks, kiddo.” He kissed her forehead and left with one last smile over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.
“No problem,” she whispered into her empty room, “not like I have a life anyway.”
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Awards!
There don't seem to be any rules, so I'm passing this on to Candyland over at The Misadventures in Candyland.
You guys must really like me. : ) If you don't know these lovely ladies, go check out their blogs!
Thanks again you guys!
Also, my review of Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox is up, it's the sequel to Dreamhunter, which I love. And in case you missed it, last week I interviewed Natalie Whipple because she's awesome and she's on sub to publishers right now, which is cool.
In other news, I'm working on chapter 4 of my new paranormal YA, and it's fabulous. I love it. I just wish I had more time to dedicate to it. *sigh*
My friend Katie is finally (seriously) trying her hand at writing, and I'm super excited about it. We came up with the idea when we were in the car and just started going back and forth until we had a basic idea, and if she hadn't decided to write it I would have. As it stands, she's decided to take it in a different direction than I would have, so later on I can totally write mine, too. When I get finished with the one I'm on now, and editing Rise of the Phoenix, and any of the other ideas that came first, of course. Hehe.
What's new with you? Had any Shiny New Ideas hit you over the head lately? Making lots of progress?
Saturday, March 27, 2010
So I haven't signed off yet...
...but I'm getting there. To tell the truth, I'll try not to disappear at all, though I can't promise anything.
I got another blog award! :) You guys really think I'm at least half way interesting. I'm glad. It makes me happy that I'm not just standing up here on my invisible box talking to a wall. What was I saying? Oh, blog award, right.
This one is from the very popular Nicole over at One Significant Moment at a Time, if you haven't ever stopped by or have never heard of Nicole, you should check her out. Now. Seriously, anyone who can compare life and a novel to a subway car is pretty interesting to me!
I'd like to pass this on now to some people who are a whole lot cooler than I am. Unfortunately, that would take forever, because I want you all to have this one. So, if you're reading this, congratulations! I think you're all wonderful and magnificent and quite a few other adjectives, so please consider yourself awarded, and continue passing on the silver lining. :D
In completely unrelated news, I'm thinking about starting to do reviews on here (not that I get to read very often, but I think it's be nice), what do you guys think? Would you like to know what I'm reading and what I think about it?
To give you a look, first up would more than likely be the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. But I have a ton of books I bought recently including, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Beastly by Alex Flinn, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger, and Atonement by Ian McEwan, so there's a nice little mix in there.
If I can keep up with posting, I'll try to stick to a schedule. Teaser Tuesday and Work in Progress Wednesday are at the top of my list, if you have any requests, now's the time to speak up! Do you want to hear about my school life? What caf food tastes like? Want me to stop talking and go away? Let me know!
And now, I'll leave you with a tiny snippet and no introduction whatsoever to my newest WiP, because I'm mean like that.
“Mom. He’s doing it again!” Taryn Jacobson bellowed, her voice carrying through the hall and into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner. “Make him stop!” she shouted. She sat on her bed trying to watch the latest episode of her favorite monster television show; Taryn’s little brother Luke sat in the floor between her bed and the TV throwing spit wads at the screen and giggling when they stuck in the middle of an actor’s face. Luke hated ghosts and all things scary. He even refused to go to sleep at night if the door wasn’t left open or if there wasn’t a light on. Luke was afraid the monsters would get him.
Taryn wished they would.
She was tired of having to get out of bed at night to check in on him because he was huddled against the wall crying about the scary things in his closet or the men hiding in the shadows. She would always sit with him and calm him down by turning on all the lights and showing him that everything was safe. Luke never really believed her, though; he always said that the monsters could only be seen when the lights were out because they were a part of the dark. They were made of darkness. It made sense to Taryn, but she still didn’t like having to give up her own sleep because her baby brother was scared, especially when he was such a pain during the day.
“Luke, if you don’t cut it out, I’ll let the monsters get you,” she said, threatening him. “I’ll turn out all the lights and close your door tonight after you go to sleep, and they’ll creep out of the shadows and in through the windows, and you’ll never even see them coming.” Luke froze, a spit wad dangling at the end of the straw that was sticking out of his five-year-old mouth. His face went pale and Taryn could see the tears welling in his little brown eyes. She knew she’d over done it, but she had had enough of his shenanigans; she just wanted to watch TV.
Friday, March 26, 2010
WiP Update
This story is fantastic and wonderful and new and exciting. And I love it. I'm also still not telling you anything about it, other than it's a paranormal YA hahaha. The only problem is that I've been on Spring Break all week, and I probably won't get to do much more writing for a while. I've got to spend my last two days catching up on all the homework I was supposed to get done (so not cool) instead of starting chapter 3. *sigh* Oh well.
School work is calling... The good news? I get to read Beastly by Alex Flinn for my Folklore class and write a paper on it, unless I choose to do Mercedes Lackey's The Fire Rose instead. I love awesome English classes. :) The bad news, that's the easiest and smallest assignment I have.
Are you making progress on something that you're working on? Are you getting bogged down with school/work/kids? Have anything to look forward to?
This may be the last you hear of me for a while. Farewell, my friends!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
I like books. <3
Teaser (from the very beginning so all you've missed is familial interactions and now he's on a diving board on a yacht):
Tom peeled off his shirt and dropped it on the wooden floor at the foot of the diving board. He let his eyes roam over the dark water and watched the breeze move through the branches of the nearby trees and across the surface of the lake. It was gorgeous. Tom climbed the few small steps to the small diving board and closed his eyes. The light breeze swept over his bare chest and through his short hair and eased the tension out of his muscles. He breathed in the fresh air and bounced lightly a few times to get a feel for the board. For an instant he froze. Tom had always been terrified of drowning, and staring at water that was so deep he couldn’t see the bottom momentarily took control of his nerves. He took a deep breath to steady them, bounced a little higher on the board, and dove.
There was a flash of bright red light as he flew through the air, and Tom automatically threw his arms up to shield his eyes. He kept his eyes closed tight against the harsh light and took a deep breath, bracing himself for the sharp pain of a belly flop that never came. Tom would have been shocked to find a hard floor beneath him instead of the lake if he had seen it coming. His head hit the ground with a sickening crack, and he rolled onto his back automatically. Tears welled in his blue-gray eyes, and he gasped in shock and pain.
The air was cold and thin; the floor was like ice against his bare skin, making it feel as if his skin was tearing away from his bones with every move he made. Tom had difficulty breathing. His lungs felt tight; he choked trying to breathe in, but the air filling his lungs was not the oxygen that his body needed. His lungs were on fire, his head felt like it was splitting apart, and his entire body ached from the impact of his landing and the frigid temperature of the room. He shifted onto his side and tried to ignore the sharp pain in his head, while his lungs screamed for air. Tom clutched at his chest and opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish out of water. He twitched and shook uncontrollably. He held himself tight and curled into a ball in an attempt to reclaim some semblance of control over his own body. He could feel the pressure rising in his head and eyes, and he slipped on to his back once more, gasping for air that would never come. Within seconds he was unconscious. His body was tense for another moment, and then he relaxed. The struggle to breathe was over. Tom had lost.
Alrighty, now then, a WiP update: I am working on editing chapter 2 now and almost finished (I think). Chapter one was 31 pages but I went back and cut it around pg 24 and tagged the rest onto the beginning of chap 2 (obviously). Now my chapters are all going to be out of whack so I have to keep an eye out for new chapter breaks as I go.
Also, did I mention this draft is basically a rewrite? The 1st draft is in 1st person but it wasn't working so now the whole thing is changing to 3rd. Woo! Fun stuff this writing business. :)
In other news, I will be moving back to school on Sunday and resuming classes the very next day. Luckily I don't start working in the library until Tuesday (I am such a nerd haha). This semester is gonna be good. I can feel it... honestly, it just really needs to not suck.
Hopefully (because I have fewer and easier classes), I will not be taking another 3 month blogging hiatus. AND, if all goes well, I might start doing reviews, because I just bought 4 new books and I plan on buying more. :)
Today's book purchases were: Dune, Ender's Game, Wicked, and Stray. I. Cannot. Wait.
That's all for tonight/today/whatever. So what about you, buy any new books lately?
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Hello, New Year!
Life isn't always a walk in the park. In fact, in my experience every day can provide you with more obstacles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying life is all pain and heartbreak, but I do think it can seem that way. We have a tendency to look back on our lives and remember all of the bad things, all of the things that went horribly wrong, or the things we wish we would have done differently. I've made it a personal goal of mine to look on the bright side of life. To try and see the good things in spite of the bad.
This has become increasingly difficult, but getting to spend time with the people I love has helped me the last couple of weeks. After high school, we all went our separate ways, and now we hardly ever see each other. I got to college and I thought it would be so much better than high school, but it's worse. The people are more immature and even more vicious. I lost all of my friends after the first semester and had to make entirely new ones. Recently, nearly everyone who was there for me after that first rough patch has deserted me. But I've made new and better friends, and just like those select few friends I've managed to keep since high school, they're there for me. And I can't imagine how things would have turned out if I hadn't met any of them.
On a writing note, last night was a big one for me: I finished editing the first chapter of Rise of the Phoenix, and I couldn't be more excited. It still worries me though; I think I might have to split it, but I'm not sure yet. It grew, a lot. The 1st person version is 18 pgs; the new 3rd person rewrite and edit is 31 pgs and 8,200 words. =)
It's a new year, and a new decade. I've never been one for resolutions, but I'm a fan of goals. I mentioned before (a couple of times actually) that I want to be query ready by graduation, May 2011. I want to move it up. By January of 2011, I want to be finished with edits, and have a query and synopsis ready. I want to write more often and on a regular basis. And I want to start playing with my Shiny Idea.
I'm determined to have a fantastic year. So, here's to 2010. May it be filled with happiness and success for everyone.
I've given you my goals. Now, what're yours? Do you want to find the perfect agent? Finish that story you've been writing? Meet new people? Let's hear it!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
WiP Wednesday late Thursday night.
I got 1000 words down yesterday which was fantastic but I didn't find time to blog so yea. Anyway I realized that the two final chapters I had planned were really just one chapter so I sat down and finished the sucker today and finally got to type THE END. Such a great feeling. *happy dance!!!*
Rise of the Phoenix is 55,450 words and 225 pages for the draft number 1. There is so much more I need to add than I need to cut and I'm super freaking psyched. Draft 2 here I come!!
In other news, Glee and Supernatural rocked my socks off. Can't wait for next week!
Do you have any TV shows you watch to relax?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
WiP update
I GOT 600 WORDS YESTERDAY!!!!
Nothing could possibly convey my excitement about actually getting something written better than CAPS right now. Except possibly this: --->
Oh yea, that was totally me after FINALLY ignoring my homework and putting in some MUCH needed writing time.
I've divided my schedule up and I'm not going to lie, I have homework time and practicing time and even workout time. All other free spots in my schedule will be split between my buddies (yes, I have IRL friends!) and writing. :D
I'm a happy panda right now. Seriously. Look at that picture again and tell me it doesn't make your day better.
Of course, I've also realized that I'm not entirely sure of my ending at this point for Rise of the Phoenix and that's more than likely why I only managed 600 words. This means I'm actually going to have to do some outlining *gasp* and figure out who dies or ya know whatever.... :)
I think I'll go do that now, instead of reading for class because frankly I'm tired of reading required material right now. Yay procrastinating for a good reason! :)
Have you been behind on your writing goals? Have you put your other responsibilities on hold to get some writing time in?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Life/Update
There was a funeral on Thursday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were let's see how much packing, hanging out with mom, and spending time with friends I can cram in to each day kind of days. And today is let's haul all of Amanda's crap up to Russellville, sign in, unpack, go eat, go shop, say goodbye, and organize the new room day.
Hopefully life will not continue to come between me and the WiP and I will be able to finish the first draft soon. Hopefully.
Has life gotten in the way of your writing this week?
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