A Monday Moment: Mistaken Identity

March 4, 2019May 24, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

Natos had specifically chosen to spend that day alone, not wanting to get caught up in his brother’s chaos for once. He figured Jaffna would be safe, because he’d heard Acronis discuss heading to Taellyn with some of the others. As soon as he heard the giggle right behind him, he knew he should have gone to Qulu instead. His brother and the others would never bother with that remote location.

Despite hearing her coming, he wasn’t expecting the arms to wrap around his body from behind. He let out a startled yelp and pulled away, turning around quickly.

“Inanna!” he said with a gasp.

“Oh!” Her face turned bright red and she covered her cheeks with her hands. “I thought you were Acronis!”

“I gathered,” he muttered.

“I’m so sorry!”

“Right…well, it’s not a big deal.”

“Maybe not for you,” she said breathlessly. “You’re…Natos, right?”

He refrained from rolling his eyes as he nodded his head. It wasn’t that he minded that this rather attractive young woman preferred his brother to him. But despite how little he cared to hang out with his Acronis and the others, he had been around a lot when Acronis was in Jaffna and spent time with Inanna. Was it that hard to remember his name?

“Is Acronis here too?” she asked, looking around the area.

“I don’t think so. I heard them talking about going to Taellyn today.”

She stuck her bottom lip out. “What’s in Taellyn? Who is in Taellyn?”

Natos only shrugged. He couldn’t tell her what he was thinking. I couldn’t even begin to care. Why on earth do you want anything to do with my brother or those others that he spends all of his time with? What must be wrong with you that this is the kind of attention you want?

The truth was, he had always seen signs that Inanna’s family was not much better than his own. He felt bad for the girl, but on the other hand, at least her life was better than his. At least she wouldn’t be expected to become a mercenary and assassin, living in the shadows for the rest of her life, never having the chance to have real connections with others. He could only hope that she didn’t waste her freedom—that she would outgrow this fascination with his brothers and find some better friends.

Prompt used: What if your character was mistaken for someone else?

Daily Writing Check-in: February 22, 2019

February 22, 2019February 23, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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

February 21, 2019May 31, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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

February 20, 2019March 1, 2019 / Kristi / 7 Comments

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:

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

Daily Writing Check-in: February 19, 2019

February 19, 2019March 1, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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

February 18, 2019February 19, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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

February 17, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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

February 14, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

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 12, 2019

February 12, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

Words/Time: 1 hour, 7 minutes, half again spent working on the outline for “Outcast” and half spent beginning a work on a series of posts for my Facebook author page.

Working on the outline brought up a question about whether or not Drear, the narrator of all of the Pithea books, would be around in this story at all or not. In the original version, he wasn’t really involved, but wasn’t far away either. But I thought I remembered writing in the first draft of “Vin” that Drear had been gone for several months, visiting his parents’ home country. I checked out my timeline to see how far apart “Outcast” and “Vin” are, and then made the mistake of bringing up the first draft of “Vin” to see what exactly I said about Drear in that story.

Granted, nothing is set in stone, so I can decide right now what I want to do with him, but I wanted to see what I’d thought before. Then I kept reading…because I really like that story. Even if it does need re-written because most of it is just the characters retelling events from the other stories.

I want to get this Facebook post series that I have planned going soon, so tomorrow may be mostly spent doing that. I’ll admit part of me feels strange for counting this as writing work, but I’m doing character studies for it, so that helps. Plus, this is my daily challenge, so it counts if I say it counts!

Daily Writing Check-in: February 11, 2019

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019 / Kristi / Leave a comment

Words/Time: 35 minutes, half spent working on the outline for “Outcast” and half spent beginning a work on a series of posts for my Facebook author page.

Working on the outline actually entailed writing out some questions that I needed to figure out for this half of the outline, and brainstorming answers. I think I’ve sufficiently answered the last of my big questions for this outline, though I’m sure smaller ones will still come up along the way.

As for my Facebook author page, it has been merely a place to share blog posts for far too long now. I never really knew what I could post there, because the format is better suited to smaller information (and I do tend to ramble), and because the work I’m doing doesn’t really lend itself to sharing information. So much of what I’ve written is either too complicated, too spoiler-filled, or just not solidified enough to share. But I do have some plans, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they pan out.