Daily Writing

Daily Writing Check-in: February 24, 2019

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Words/Time: 50 minutes mostly doing preliminary work for the outline of “Unexpectedly,” after finishing some free writing I started yesterday.

On Friday, I finished #1 in my current list of writing goals. After taking a day to do some free writing before going on to #2, I dove right in today.

1. Outline “Outcast”

2. Outline “Unexpectedly” – I have a lot less of a plot in mind for this story, but I think it will be easier to outline than Outcast, because there’s not as much there to start with—not as much that needs broken down and rebuilt. While considering where this book could go, I’ve already hit on some new ideas that I’m really excited about.

3. Re-outline “The Seeger Book”

4. Re-outline “Vin”

5. Re-outline “Protector”

I am not 100% certain about the plot for “Unexpectedly,” but I do have some solid ideas. I just don’t know what the structure will be like, or if a couple of sub-plots are strong enough. I have to sort through the ideas before starting the actual outline.

My work on this today involved first outlining what will likely become the main plot, which is a plot line I’ve had planned for a long time, and have partially wrote. Then I went on to the largest sub-plot, writing out thoughts about what should be included and how. This involved research into what term would most likely make sense for a character to call his great-grandfather, that would be a twisting of a real term in use today, in this region of the world. I’m actually really surprised I came up with something, considering how obscure my preference seemed to be.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 23, 2019

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Words/Time: 33 minutes free writing.

I read a prompt on another blog last week that had me thinking all week about what I would write for it. Not surprisingly, it was romance-related, which seems to get my creative juices flowing more than anything else these days. After cycling through my most main characters in my books, I landed on using my newest main characters, from “Protector,” for the prompt. I spent some time writing that today (and also going back through a few parts of “Protector” and its outline to help me remember a few details).

Because I finished a task on my writing goals list yesterday, I thought today would be a good day to stop and write this down while I was thinking about it. I really need to do more free writing anyway. It’s not finished, though, and I need to go to bed early to get up early, so I’ll work on it more tomorrow and, time willing, also start on a new goal.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 22, 2019

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Words/Time: 35 minutes working on the outline for “Outcast.”

After working on lining up the 2 storylines of this book in Scrivener for 35 minutes, I realized that it may not be possible to match them up yet. When I wrote the original version of this story, I wrote the storylines separately, and then lined them up afterward, breaking them into chapters at that time.

I’ve seen over the years that other writers can estimate how long their planned scenes will be (by word count), can know in advance where chapter breaks will be, and other things like that. I’ve never been great at any of that. It’s easier to me to just write the full story as it comes and break it up later. I’m putting a hold on trying to line up the storylines now, because I do think it will be a waste of time.

This means that, unless tomorrow reveals something I am not thinking of now, I have completed #1 on my current list of writing goals, and frankly, much more quickly than I expected.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 21, 2019

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Words/Time: 1 hour, 19 minutes working on the outline for “Outcast.”

It took some doing, but I finished the outline for the 2nd storyline. I had to hash out a few more questions, mostly about how to get the right people to the final location for the storyline. I also had to go back to previous conversations I’ve had with certain characters to make sure I remembered correctly how the final scene should go.

I also made the mistake of looking up something in “Vin,” which turned into just reading for several minutes. Maybe this sounds strange to be so surprised about, but even though I wrote it during NaNoWriMo, and it needs a lot of work, I have a difficult time pulling myself away from “Vin” if I start to read any part of it.

Tomorrow I plan to start putting the outline into Scrivener, broken into scenes as best as I can plan them, to see how the storylines will match up.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 20, 2019

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Words/Time: 1 hour finishing character interviews before continuing the outline for “Outcast.”

Talking with 2 of the main characters in “Outcast” accomplished exactly what it was meant to. I am ready to go back to my outline. I now have a new question about how the 2 separate storylines in this book are going to line up, because I think it’s safe to say it won’t work out exactly like it did in the original version. But I’m going to finish the outline for storyline 2, and then use Scrivener to see how the storylines will match up.

I don’t know about others who have conversations with their characters, but this is what mine look like most of the time:

character interview

Different colors for different characters. I’m always purple.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 19, 2019

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Words/Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes doing some character interviews before continuing the outline for “Outcast.”

Ever since I discovered how incredibly insightful it can be to bring in a character or two and ask them questions related to where I’m stuck in my planning stage, it has been something I’ve really enjoyed. Today I asked two characters to help me hash out what’s missing from this story. I only knew that it needed to focus more on Remiel and his character. I’ve already realized that I need to further explore the similarity between Remiel and the woman he’s trying to help, how they both have a past they’re not proud of.

Of course, we already got sidetracked from that discussion to help me understand how much Remiel would know about a particular event and person involved, and that’s where we left off. I will continue this interview tomorrow, and expect some really helpful insights to come out of it. I just hope more of a plot does as well.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 18, 2019

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Words/Time: 30 minutes working on the outline for “Outcast.”

I wrote a few more lines into the outline for the 2nd storyline. However, as I mentioned yesterday, I’m not sure sold on how this story went in the original storyline. I think I may actually need to take some time and write out some new ideas, maybe talk to some characters, just see if there’s something better I can come up with. For one thing, the person I really want to showcase in that storyline actually doesn’t get to do much for most of it.

I’ll start tackling this fresh tomorrow.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 17, 2019

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Words/Time: 31 minutes working on the outline for “Outcast.”

I did make some progress on the outline. I also stopped for a while to figure out how the middle of the 2nd storyline should progress, because I’m not in love with how it went in the original version. I also came up with a big question that needed address that, quite frankly, was a potential plot hole in the original version, but I didn’t really pay attention to it, and no one who read it ever asked either. I think I have it solved, but I’m not sure if it will be explained in the story or not, because it’s information the narrator most likely will never have. But if I know it works, then at least I know there’s not a gaping plot hole.

I didn’t post the last 2 days, because I worked 12 hours both days, not getting home until midnight or later. I’m very sleepy right now too, so I’m glad I got in what I did. Hopefully I can drum up something for tomorrow’s Monday Moment post, so I don’t just skip another one.

Daily Writing Check-in: February 14, 2019

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Words/Time: 41 minutes working on some prep for a series of posts for my Facebook author page.

I have all of the posts ready for “Pithea,” which I think is enough to set it aside for now. That will get me through at least 2 months, probably more, since I haven’t decided how often to post. I can tell that if I keep working on it right now, with that much already prepped, it will be more about stalling–putting off the harder work in favor of the easier work. So tomorrow, it’s back to the outline for “Outcast.”

Daily Writing Check-in: February 13, 2019

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Words/Time: 30 minutes working on some prep for a series of posts for my Facebook author page.

I have decided to post about each of the 7 Pithea books that are planned out enough for me to feel they’re worth sharing. For each book, I’ll post a series of posts with various information like a short synopsis, main character introductions, book stats, and small excerpts. I am currently working on the posts for the first book, “Pithea,” and what’s slowing me down is character introductions. I’ve always been terrible at trying to explain characters in a boiled-down sense.